In and around Jolee's hut in the woods, Friday evening
Jolee
Jolee was on his way to the bar tonight. This wasn't usually a terribly exciting trip. He just had to walk through a bunch of woods. Then eventually he'd be out on the road. And then it was a pretty short walk from there. It was quiet. He enjoyed it. But tonight, something broke the quiet. From out of nowhere, three beings Jolee hadn't sensed in the Force were rushing towards him holding pikes. He looked left as he felt four more suddenly appear. They were all dressed in black robes with masks covering their faces and they all radiated evil.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Jolee said. It just felt like something that needed to be said.
Jolee pulled his lightsaber out of his robe, ignited it... and ran back towards his hut. He wasn't a damn fool! Those were terrible odds!
Jolee
Jolee couldn't be sure there weren't more of them. The only advantages he had were his familiarity with both the terrain and the Force. It helped him run faster and it allowed him to reach out to other Force users. Jolee wasn't great with telepathy, but he could yell "HELP!" as loud as he could in his mind and trust that assistance would come.
Three more assassins turned off their camouflage and appeared in front of Jolee. He reached out with the Force, grabbed one, and flung him forward. He crashed into the lead assassin, leaving the leader open for a charging Jolee to run him through with his saber before sprinting past the third assassin.
He finally made it to his hut, dashed inside, and shut the door. He could buy himself some time if he could block the door and window with the Force.
Sith
The assassins caught up quickly and set to knocking the door down. After a few moments, the pounding stopped. And just them, a red lightsaber sliced into the wall, cutting a large hole through the mud structure. Jolee could get a strong reading on the person doing this. Hate and fear enveloped her. She was Sith. This really couldn't get much worse.
A woman dressed in dark robes with her eyes covered pushed aside the mud wall and entered the hut, followed by the assassins. "You are not the one I was searching for."
Jolee
"I'm glad to hear that," Jolee responded, letting go of his hold on the door and window. The Sith had a way in now. It would serve him better to conserve his strength. "Does that mean you'll leave me alone now?"
Sith
"No," the Sith answered. "My Lord sensed an echo in the Force. He believed your presence in hiding might explain it. The fact that it doesn't means that you serve no purpose for Darth Nihilus. And so your life is forfeit, just like the lives of everyone will eventually."
She raised a hand, using the Force to grasp Jolee by the throat and lift him into the air.
Ben
Ben came racing from the dorms--he'd dropped what he'd been doing (unfortunately for him, a particularly heavy bit of machinery) when he heard the cry for help.
He rapidly assessed what he was seeing--dark Force energy, Jedi being choked--before slashing out at the woman with his lightsaber.
Skywalkers didn't really do "planning."
Sith
The Sith dropped Jolee, spun around, and blocked the strike with her lightsaber. "Another Jedi? That explains why this island felt so rich in the Force."
Jolee
Jolee took a moment to heal himself from the choking, then reached out with the Force to pull the blaster he had never actually used since he bought it from a shelf towards him.
After all, he was in a room full of men primed for melee combat. They didn't even have lightsabers to defend themselves from blaster fire. Two shots later, one of the assassins had fallen before two charged towards him. Jolee picked his lightsaber back up to defend himself.
Ben
Ben registered the sound of blaster fire only as background noise. "It's been a couple months," he said quietly, noting the color of her blade, "so I'm due to fight another Sith."
Sith
"And I have spent the past month murdering as many Jedi as I could find," the Sith noted coldly.
Intending to make Ben the next on her list, she sped forward with the Force and slashed at his neck.
Ben
"Seems to be a Sith hobby," Ben said, bringing his blade up just in time, then pushing at her with an assist from the Force.
Sith
The Sith controlled herself, allowing herself to only slide backwards. "You're strong. But I have the strength of the Dark Side with me." She reached into her hate and gave a strong push of her own just as one of her assassins moved into position behind Ben.
Ben
And that's why you'll lose, Ben thought to himself as he used her push to propel himself back and over the assassin behind him.
"Hi," he said cheerfully, lightsaber up in a high guard.
Assassin
The assassin spun around, ducking and swiping his pike at Ben's legs.
Ben
Ben leaped into the air and swiped his lightsaber at the assassin's neck. There wasn't enough room to be pretty unless he went out the window he was backing toward.
Assassin
The assassin blocked the attack and kicked at Ben's knee. Maybe that would stop him from jumping around so much.
Ben
"Hey!" Ben said. Because the assassin should be fighting fair or something. He swiped his blade out at the leg. Maybe that would stop him from kicking so much.
Assassin
The assassin blocked again and aimed an elbow at Ben's face. This assassin clearly liked getting in close and physical.
Ben
"Fierfek," Ben swore--or tried to, since his nose had crunched in a really painful way and r's were hard to say now--and slashed his lightsaber at whatever was closest.
In close and physical as they were, this could end badly.
Assassin
The wild slice managed to lob a couple fingers off of the assassin's pike hand. He switched the pike to his left hand, but it just wasn't the same when he tried to stab left-handed.
Ben
Ben's eyes lit up as he sensed the balance in the battle shift a little in his favor. He struck out with his lightsaber again, positioning it in a way that was hard to counter left-handed.
Assassin
The assassin blocked awkwardly with his pike in both hands. While he was doing this, an assassin decloaked next to Ben and thrust his pike at Ben's side.
Ben
Ben hissed in a breath as the pike glanced off his side--he hadn't moved nearly fast enough to avoid it--and he took a few steps back, breathing through his mouth and wiping blood from his face.
The balanced had shifted the other way and he was running out of tricks.
Jolee
Jolee used the Force to pull the new assassins pike away, then pulled a book off a shelf to hit the defingered assassin in the back of the head. "You can take them now, son!" he called before going back to trying to hold off the others.
Ben
Ben flashed Jolee a grateful smile and swept his lightsaber out at the newly disarmed assassin.
Assassin
The assassin was slow to react due to his surprise at losing his pike. Being slow to react in this case meant that he dropped to the floor, dead.
The defingered assassin recovered and struck at Ben's head with his pike.
Ben
Ben ducked and stabbed his lightsaber at the assassin's stomach.
Assassin
The assassin dropped his pike and fell to his knees, dead.
Ben
Ben took a deep breath and wiped the blood from his face again.
Tahiri
Tahiri, who'd been down on the beach trying to meditate, arrived in the Preserve a scant minute or two after Ben did.
"Well," she muttered to herself as she unhooked her lightsaber from her belt and thumbed it on, "these odds don't look too bad."
Which was to say she was mildly worried, or she wouldn't be trying to wisecrack.
She flung a hand out, sending a hard telekinetic shove toward a couple of the pike-wielders.
Jolee
Jolee breathed a sigh of relief as more help arrived. The message clearly had been received. That relief was quickly cut short, though, by a stinging sensation in his back. "AAAH!"
He stumbled forward and threw a quick burst of Force lightning back at the assassin who had just jabbed him with that force pike. It must have been a glancing blow, because those things could knock a Wookiee unconscious. Jolee thanked the Force that he had survive, and resorted to pulling hardened chunks of mud from the wall to throw at the assassins to keep them occupied until others showed up.
Assassin
The assassins were thrown back, but a third assassin rushed forward, thrusting his pike at Tahiri's shoulder.
Tahiri
Tahiri got the lightsaber back into a two-handed grip just in time to parry the attack millimeters from where it would have gone into her shoulder, and let out an inarticulate growl. At the same time she ducked and twisted beneath the pike's shaft to kick out at the assassin's . . . well, midsection if she'd been taller.
Assassin
The assassin hadn't anticipated being kicked that low in a fight against a Jedi. That's why he doubled over and dropped his pike.
One of the assassins she had pushed over had picked himself up and hurried over.
Tahiri
See, being short wasn't always a bad thing. And hopefully it got her off the hook for that, er, low blow.
Tahiri grabbed the fallen pike with the Force and sent it spinning toward the onrushing assassin as she brought her lightsaber into a guard position.
Sith
Fresh from her skirmish with Ben, the Sith made her way back to her primary target. "You're feeling overly confident right now, Jedi," She said, circling the old man. "Your powerful friends will not help. These assassins feed off the strength of their opponents. The more powerful their target is, the worse their death will be."
Jolee
"You don't get it," Jolee said, moving in to tap the Sith's lightsaber with his, just to keep her on her toes. "Sure, you've got the numbers. And you may even have the power. But we have some things you don't."
Sith
"What do you mean?" she asked, rushing forward with a flurry of strikes aimed at Jolee's arms.
Jolee
"Reinforcements," Jolee said, parrying a strike. "Familiarity with the area." Jolee parried another couple strikes. "And creativity."
Jolee ducked the final strokes, reaching behind him, and flung an assassin at the Sith with the Force. When he saw impact, he knew that they had bought at least a little more time.
Assassin
The assassin charging Tahiri knocked the flying pike away with his own pike before getting close enough to swing for Tahiri's head.
Tahiri
"It was worth a try," Tahiri said, stepping into the attack rather than away from it. Her lightsaber flashed up, the move meant to catch the force pike in a high bind.
Assassin
The assassin didn't respond to the chatter. It probably would have been tough with that mask anyway.
With his weapon locked up, the assassin tried to use his height for leverage to push Tahiri back.
Tahiri
Well, too bad for the assassin. There was going to be chatter; it was what she did. She probably could have taught him how to banter through a mask if, you know, he hadn't been attacking her and obviously evil.
Of course, Tahiri had fought Yuuzhan Vong, and they were ridiculously tall, so she was used to that; abruptly, she deactivated her blade and threw herself sideways into a roll, the lightsaber humming back to life as she came out of it.
Assassin
The assassin stumbled forward, surprised by Tahiri's quickness.
His doubled-over colleague started to get to his feet, bracing himself with his pike.
Tahiri
Yeah, see, sometimes being tiny was awesome.
Tahiri pivoted and slashed out at the backs of the stumbling assassin's knees as she used the Force to yank hard at the second assassin's pike.
It wasn't a rug, but it'd suffice.
Sith
The stumbling assassin fell forward with useless legs while the other made caught himself, even if he was still hunched over slightly.
The Sith strode over, held an open hand out to the crippled assassin, and absorbed his life energy, leaving him dead. "You have embarrassed my men enough, Jedi." She grabbed the dead assassins pike with the Force and flung it at Tahiri like a javelin.
Tahiri
"Really?" Tahiri sidestepped the hurled pike, but felt it clip her sleeve and tear the fabric. "And I was just getting started."
The banter was going to be good for this, because -- several things in mind, not the least of which was watching a Sith drain someone to death -- she was freaked out big time.
Sith
"I can sense your fear," the Sith said, pausing just for a moment. "Use it. It can lead you to far greater power than you have right now."
To show what kind of power that she was offering, the Sith rushed forward with an overhand strike at Tahiri.
Tahiri
One of these days Tahiri was going to learn some emotional control, and let's hope for everyone's sake it was going to be sooner rather than later. She tried to clamp down on the fear and sort of succeeded for the time being.
Of course, there was still the problem of being charged by a Sith. A high Force-aided flip looked like a viable solution to Tahiri right now, so that's what she went with.
Sith
The Sith pushed at Tahiri with the Force while she was in the air. "Fight that fear with anger and embrace the power that comes from it."
Tahiri
That was enough to send Tahiri off-course enough that she barely managed to get her feet under her, and pain shot up her left leg when she landed. She'd managed to come up with a retort mid-flight, though.
"Really? That's the best sales pitch you can come up with?" she asked as she sprang forward with a slashing blow.
Sith
"You are chained down by your notions of the dark side," the Sith said, dodging with a step to the side. She pushed at Tahiri to send her back towards the assassin who had now recovered from the low blow and grabbed a pike.
"Finish her," the Sith ordered.
Tahiri
"I think --" Glad she'd been practicing this with Dinah, Tahiri Force-stuck herself to the ground and flung some of the debris from the hut's walls at the Sith. "I know more than I want to about it, already."
Mmm, irony.
But since Tahiri couldn't really appreciate said irony, she just spun to face the assassin, twitching her blade in a feint as she darted in.
Assassin
The assassin ducked, swinging his pike at Tahiri's knee.
Tahiri
Tahiri got her lightsaber blade down barely in time and still had to dance sideways to avoid a glancing hit from the pike, but she managed to shift her stance and send a hook kick at the assassin's jaw.
Her heart was still pounding far harder than she'd have liked.
Assassin
The kick knocked the assassin down, making him drop his pike. He scrambled to his feet, but was now unarmed.
Tahiri
Tahiri half hadn't been expecting that to work as well as it did, but at least she recovered quickly from the surprise. She Force-shoved the pike hopefully out of reach and rushed in, head low, fully intending to shove her lightsaber through his chest.
Assassin
The assassin spun to the right to dodge the attack and aimed a roundhouse kick at the back of Tahiri's head.
Tahiri
Tahiri was, by that point, fully committed to the charge and couldn't pull up short in time to deflect or avoid the kick.
. . . when she regained consciousness, she might even be annoyed that she didn't even get enough reaction time to complain about being knocked out again.
Jaina
By the time Jaina reached the hut, her lightsaber was already in hand, and a second after reaching said hut, it was lit. It took a second for her to process the scene, and then she was immediately on the lookout for the first person that needed to end up on the wrong end of her lightsaber.
Assassin
Two assassins swarmed upon Jaina, one aiming his pike at her shoulder, the other aiming for her stomach.
Jaina
"Only two?" Jaina muttered, spinning herself around about half a circle while making a broad sweeping gesture with her own weapon, attempting to at least derail the attack a bit if she couldn't disarm them right away.
Assassin
Both strikes were knocked off course, but one of the assassins rolled with the deflection to aim a jumpkick at Jaina's head.
Jaina
Reacting a second before thinking, Jaina ducked back, swinging her blade at his outstretched leg.
Assassin
The assassin's leg flew across the room while the assassin himself crashed to the floor.
His partner used the oddness of the sight as a potential distraction and swung his pike at Jaina's own legs.
Jolee
Jolee was fending off two assassins when he spotted the flying leg. Being the tricky old man that he was, telekinetically grabbed the flying limb and struck one of his attackers with it. He felt that gave him a leg up.
Jaina
Lucky for all involved, Jaina was busier using the Force to assist her leap over the pike, landing effortlessly and stepping forward to try and catch her attacker with the point of her lightsaber.
Assassin
The assassin blocked the strike with his pike and followed through with the pointy butt end of the pike to slash at her neck.
Jaina
Most of Jaina's fighting so far seemed to be moving, and this was no exception. She ducked under the pike, kicking her leg out to sweep his feet out from under him.
Assassin
With Jaina's strength fueling him, the assassin jumped over the leg sweep and brought his pike down at her like a hammer on his descent.
Jaina
That didn't seem right to her. Not that she had a lot of time to dwell on that, at least not till she brought her lightsaber up at an awkward angle to block the pike.
Assassin
The assassin landed and brought his pike up for another swing.
Meanwhile, the one-legged assassin had gotten back to his foot. He started to hop angrily towards Jaina, using his pike for support.
Jaina
Focus divided, Jaina extended her hand to send a Force push at the one-legged assassin, while straightening and getting a better handle on her lightsaber in order to block more effectively.
Assassin
The one-legged assassin used all of his focus and all of his pike's reach to leap forward through the push and jab weakly at Jaina. This didn't really work, though, so he shoved the pike across the floor at her.
The other assassin suddenly switched from his overhand smashed to slash at Jaina's gut with his pike.
Jolee
"You came here looking for an echo in the Force," Jolee pointed out as he approached the Sith and attacked. His side had gained enough people while dispatching of enough assassins. He could refocus on the leader now. "And instead you found an island packed with Jedi. I don't think the Force favors you."
Sith
"I need no favors from the Force," the Sith said while she blocked the strike. "It exists only for the Lord of Hunger to devour."
Jolee
"Tell me more of this Lord of Hunger," Jolee said. He tried to reach into her mind and mindtrick her into giving up. This usually would have worked. But when he touched her mind, all he saw was grief and loss. The ripple in the Force he had felt a month ago...
Her master had destroyed the planet Katarr, her homeworld. There had been a gathering of Jedi on Katarr when Darth Nihilus arrived. He killed them all, along with the Miralukin natives, the plants, the animals... This woman was the only living being who hadn't been drained of their life energy on the entire planet. And now she had been broken to be an apprentice for a Sith Lord who craved nothing but the end of everything.
This left Jolee distracted, unfortunately.
Sith
The Sith took advantage of this momentary distraction to use the Force to fling the body of the one-legged assassin at Jolee as payback for earlier. She then turned to Jaina.
Jaina
Just like that, Jaina decided she was done playing.
Keeping one eye on each of the assassins, Jaina parried the slash, being careful to hold her wrist steady in case he pulled that same damn move that kept getting her. And then she called the loose pike to her hand to try and jab it into the assassin's chest while holding his weapon still with her own.
Sith
The skewered assassin fell over. The Sith sensed an opening, though, so she leaped towards Jaina, striking straight down at her head with the red lightsaber.
Jaina
Without time to take a breath after that guy, Jaina brought her lightsaber and stolen pike above her head in an X to block the shot without the weird angle she'd managed last time. No one could say she didn't learn at this.
Sith
The Sith held a hand open and prepared to strike Jaina with Force lightning.
Jolee
Jolee saw this, got up, and threw his lightsaber while he yelled, "No!" to further catch the Sith's attention.
Sith
The Sith looked up and brought her lightsaber up to deflect Jolee's. "Fine. This was to be your fate eventually, Bindo." She let the lightning fly from her fingers to the old man, who was thrown back by the attack.
Jaina
Like Jaina was going to stand by and watch that happen. While the Sith was doing that, Jaina was taking a swing at the woman's neck with her lightsaber.
Sith
The Sith stopped her onslaught on Jolee to bring her saber up just in time to parry the blow before finally throwing Force lightning at Jaina as well.
Jaina
While no stranger to Force lightning, Jaina had also more recently been throwing it around herself enough to forget it hurt like a bitch. Letting go of her weapons, she'd dropped to her knees a second before she remembered something else from that time.
If I can summon it, I can dispel it...
She was very used to fighting through pain, so she followed the example Kyp had set. She tried to separate herself from the effects of what she felt happening, instead concentrating on what was actually happening, on that dark energy, not feeding on it but rather taking it and simply sending it away...
Right till the lightning disappeared.
Sith
"How are you doing that?" the Sith demanded, stopping the attack that clearly wasn't working. She dropped into a defensive stance for the first time in the battle."
Jolee
Jolee spoke up as he started to rise to his feet. "There is more to the Force than just brute strength. But I wouldn't expect a Sith to understand that.
Jaina
Jaina got back to her feet, grabbing her lightsaber as she did, trying to ignore that everything still hurt. She'd dealt with worse.
"And I think I learned from better than you," she said, trying to put the attitude right back where it needed to be.
Sith
The Sith took a moment to feel around her with the Force. The assassins were pretty much all gone. She was surrounded by Jedi. She had a decision to make. "Perhaps. But I have much to learn myself." She reached into the Force, ripped chunks of mud off the wall, threw them at Jaina, and ran towards the hole she had created for her entrance.
Jaina
Not bothering to waste her energy on trying to deflect it, Jaina still couldn't ignore the instinctive reaction to turn away from something flying at her, which in turn caused a reaction of "Ow" with a mental wtf.
Anakin
Anakin'd had to commute, okay? He'd broken several landspeed records, used the cloaking device he'd not told Rory he had, and arrived...well, late.
But his lightsaber was out and lit as he sprinted towards the melee.
Assassin
Anakin couldn't see it behind their masks, but two assassins smiled when the felt Anakin's power approaching. They charged towards him, keeping their pikes in defensive positions.
He just seemed like the kind of guy who would get right to the stabby.
Anakin
He liked a nice mix of stabby and gratuitous Force flinging, really. So he reached into the Force, trying to pick one of the attackers up and toss him into a nearby-ish tree.
Assassin
While the assassins powered themselves with the Force power of their targets, that didn't do much good against being thrown into a tree. The thrown assassin caught himself on a branch and started to realize that this was turning out wrong. He was going to make his way to the ship and make sure it was ready for departure. Anyone who was strong enough to survive would join him. And the ranks of the Sith would be strengthened by the loss of weaklings.
The other assassin thrust his pike at Anakin's gut.
Anakin
Anakin parried the move quickly, eyes narrowing. The Force pike was an antique weapon, even for him. "What do you want here?" he demanded.
Assassin
The assassin didn't respond with words. Instead, he turned his pike quickly and stabbed at Anakin's should with the bladed end of the pike.
Anakin
He really needed to find someone better than Ben to spar against, he decided, because that came way too close to skewering him. Anakin wrenched something in his back getting out of the way and lashed out with his foot for the assassin's instep.
Assassin
The assassin dodged by leaping up and kicking at Anakin's chest.
Anakin
Anakin was beginning to get annoyed. He didn't get kicked in the chest by people he didn't have names for--like he just did.
He took a step back, glared, and swept out with his lightsaber for the other man's head.
No more Mister Nice Jedi. Not that Anakin was that nice on a day when people weren't trying to kill members of his family.
Assassin
The assassin ducked the strike. From his crouched position, he jabbed his pike up at Anakin's chin, going for a knockout or - hopefully - death.
Anakin
He was going have to settle for neither as Anakin slid out of the way (it came really close to taking a lock of his hair off, the horror!), then reached into the Force and yanked at the Force pike.
Assassin
Now that he was defenseless, the assassin dove for his departed partner's dropped pike.
Anakin
And Anakin tried to hamstring the man (or cut his legs off. Anakin wasn't that picky).
Sith
With his legs cut off, there wasn't much for the assassin to do.
And that was why the Sith reached out and drained the life from him as she fled the hut. There was nothing remaining for her but death or escape. But she couldn't die. Not yet. Not until she found the echo in the Force that she was seeking. And she knew that she would need all of her strength to escape from this one.
Anakin
Anakin eyes went icy as he stepped deliberately to block her way. "Sith aren't welcome here."
Sith
"In time, Darth Nihilus will destroy this world along with everything else," the Sith said with surprising calm. "And then being 'welcome' will be irrelevent."
She turned her lightsaber on, felt her fear, and turned it into rage to empower her for this fight.
Anakin
That name Anakin knew, and he felt the hair on the back of his hair rise up. He was going to need another weapon.
Reaching into the Force, he found what he needed in Jolee's hut--or what was left of it--and a shota came flying into his other hand. He lit both blades and glared. "This world, and everything else, are staying where they are."
Sith
"All life dies in my lord's darkness," the Sith said, dashing forward and attacking the shota hand.
Anakin
"You are going to be extremely disappointed," Anakin muttered to himself, spinning his wrist to parry her attack, then moving his lightsaber to slice along her back.
Sith
She spun to parry the slice, then reached out to pull the shota from Anakin's hand with the Force.
Anakin
The shota didn't move out of Anakin's hand, but the blade sliced towards her throat. "That's not very polite," he commented.
Neither was his follow-up lightsaber jab at her thigh.
Sith
She parried the blow to the head and flipped over Anakin to dodge the follow-up. In an attempt to buy some time for an escape, she fired lightning from her fingers. It wouldn't buy her much if the girl had been any indication, but she only needed precious seconds.
Anakin
Anakin dropped the shota to deflect the lightning with his hand. He gritted his teeth as the energy built into a little ball, then threw it back at her.
Hard.
Sith
She held out her lightsaber to absorb the energy. She had plenty of practice with fending off dark energy due to her 'training' at the hands of Nihilus. She knew how to do it efficiently.
She turned to run towards her shuttle.
Anakin
Anakin growled and flung his hand out, ripped a tree up by the roots (it wasn't a Star Destroyer, but it would have to do), and threw it at her retreating back.
Sith
The Sith spun around and sliced the tree with her lightsaber.
As she was occupied with that, the final remaining assassin hopped at Anakin from behind, aiming his pike at the middle of Anakin's back.
Anakin
He snarled out a curse as he whirled around, the pike grazing his cloak and his attention diverted from the Sith he really wanted as he dealt with this new threat.
Sith
That was all the Sith needed to successfully flee.
As the assassin swiped at Anakin's face, a cloaked shuttle took off and left Fandom, the Sith and the remaining assassin on board. The mission to kill Jolee Bindo was a failure. But they had discovered a planet full of Jedi to purge. And that success might be enough for them to survive Darth Nihilus's wrath...
Anakin
"Fierfek," Anakin swore as he felt the shuttle leaving, then sliced his lightsaber towards the last assassin's throat.
[OOC: Preplayed with the amazing momslilassassin/sith_happened, weetuskenraider, and trickster_twin. Minor OCD coming up. Not for interaction unless the people listed before want to play in the aftermath thread.
ETA: Now without a cut tag at the very beginning that hid the entire damn post. Bah.]