[center][b]~|Day 1, 12:42 GST|~[/b]
~|Xid & Jakali & Sish|~[/center]

[i] What was happening?[/i]

Xid kept asking himself the same thing over and over. His boots slammed hard against the temple floor, echoing with each step, while his head flipped about wildly. His lungs was already burning from the distance as he felt on the verge of getting sick, his body slowing when he came to to open area. Damage was clear that the battle had arrived here. Scorch marks from blasters, lightsaber skidmarks, and crumbling architecture were scattered over the once pristine marble floor. A cold sweat drenched his skin and robes, the Darth’s presence still left him more than merely rattled. It left him with a sense of utter dread for his old master. 

His mind came up with the battle scene occurring in his absence, struggling not to pull back and return, trusting his master would survive. On top of that, Navi and him had gotten separated which left him even more vulnerable to attack. He only hoped he didn’t encounter any troopers, or worse Sith, on his way to seek help. Someone had to be left alive after all and not dead. 

Panting heavily, his eyes swirled around the abandoned area. He almost walked right by it, his eyes spotting the metallic surface and damaged leg of a droid fling into the corner. Xid gave a little smile as he approached it. His eyes studying the thing and raising his hand, gently touched it and letting his Mech deru flow through it. It was heavily damaged but salvageable. 

“Alright. Just hang on Master Sela, don’t die, please don’t die on me.” Xid whispered in panic. Hastily he gripped the thick slab that had toppled over it and braced himself, inhaling once before gritting his teeth and shoving at it. It didn’t budge immediately. His eyes closed while he strained to remove it, the debris finally sliding to the side with a loud grunt. It crashed into the side causing him to pant heavily, every bone in his body ached, and his head twisted about to see if his actions had been noticed. 

Nothing for now, his mind returned to his work quickly managing to get two droids up and running before the first Sith arrived.    

Sish was covered in more blood, having found more Jedi and non Force users in the temple. However, it had been far too long since his last victim, and he was getting impatient. As Sish rounded the corner, following the sound of crashing and banging, two things happened immediately. He saw there was another Jedi, working on a droid, and two more droids fired upon him. Sish’s lightsaber came up and deflected the blaster shots. When he finally had a moment, Sish struck quickly, using the force to throw one droid at the Jedi. Before he could throw his lightsaber at the other one, snarling as it moved out of the way and got a couple shots off, hitting him in his chest and being absorbed by his battle armor.

“Surrender. Or don’t. Please don’t.” 
It was natural to Xid while he working on the wires, his fingers familiar with the slick outside and flexible structure as he moved into the connecting slot. The droid’s arm moved slightly, signalling he was doing something right. It thrilled and tilted its head, looking at the boy before the sound of blasters made his head whip about. His eyes instantly caught the sight of the intimidating Trandoshan draped in a bloodied, tattered robe from the conflict within the temple. Expression widening in fear, Xid quickened his pace in trying to get the machine up and running. It wasn’t easy with all the damage compared to the others and he barely noticed the movement outside the corner of his before pain erupted over his side. 

His body, thanks to the droid impacting his side, crumbled like wet paper. The droid flipped and landed on top where it pinned him down. Xid cursed his luck. His muscles flared in pain when it snapped into the floor and he could feel the metal slice into his flesh, warm blood spilling over his forearm. He cried out as he felt the wound ooze, struggling under the droid’s mass. His head jerked to the Sith’s words, his lips curved into a disbelievable look. Surrender? Really and what, get mauled? Xid wasn’t too enthusiastic about getting dismembered. 

His head turned to the droids still left, the one he was working earlier being unable to raise but could still fire with one arm. They stirred and targeted Sish within their sights.   

Xid smirked, lightly. “I suggest you run, Sith…” 

Jakali had entered back into the Temple a short time after Sish did. He initially did not intend to follow the reptile, but he was partly interested in observing the brute’s methods, and if needed then interact with him. He had remained silent the entire time, carefully measuring every footstep as he followed from a sizeable distance behind, down each corridor, around each corner. He was certain his presence had yet to be detected.

A smile nearly came upon his face as he watched Sish dart around a corner, followed immediately by the sounds of metal clanks and blaster bolts. He wasn’t certain what was happening, but it may have been that Sish had encountered droids that were defending the Temple, it was the most likely instance he could think of after having pieced together the hints he was given. Then he heard a loud bang, like one of those droids had been dropped to the floor. 

Jakali kept a distance, but now crept along the wall on the opposite side of the battle scene. He could hear well enough, Sish interacting with somebody, a Jedi it seemed. The scene perked his curiosity as it unfolded, so he waited like a predator that set a trap, ready to emerge from around the corner, storming an idea in his mind.

Sish smiled at the pinned Jedi. “Okay.” He cast Force Speed and bolted towards Xid, moving faster than the droids could fire if only just. The Trandoshan slammed into the droid over his opponent, neatly slicing it in half. Using the force he slammed the droid that had dodged into the one Xid had been working on. He snarled again as the Knight rolled away, getting ready with his lightsaber. “Lets see how well you fight without your droids.”
Xid’s expression twisted into horror when he spotted the sudden appearance of the Sith right above him. The pressure increased as he felt his rib cracking, the bone giving out and busted. The skin underneath turned purple and his voice screamed out against the blow though he couldn't breath. His body rolled to the side and narrowly avoided the clawed foot nailing him where he was. Reaching for his side, his lightsaber jerked into his palm and he clicked it on.

The blade buzzed to life while he eyed the Sith. His droids, the only defense, gone. Xid took the opening posture for his style and braced for fight until the bitter end.  

Sish grinned at Xid as he braced. He gripped his own lightsaber in both claws then lunged forward, still sped up with Force speed, and slashed horizontally at the Knight’s chest.

Xid’s skills were lacking, his speed no match for the Sith’s attack. The blade tip grazed his chest causing the Jedi to holler in pain and recoil at smelling his own flesh burn. Cloth and flesh stung while his free hand jerked to his wound, thankful it wasn’t bleeding. Sweat poured down his skin when he realized how terribly outmatched but his eyes held firm. His hand tightened and jerked, causing the nearest droid to jerk and fire into Sish’s back. Taking the distraction he shot forward and slashed at the exposed side should the Trandoshan turned to defend himself.  

Sish laughed as he heard Xid cry out in pain, getting ready to attack again. Then blaster fire hit him in the upper back, absorbed by his his armor again. [i]Can’t take much more of this..[/i] Whirling around, he threw his lightsaber through the droid. Immediately he tried to turn around, but Force speed had worn off and the Jedi slashed through the Trandoshan’s armor, drawing a roar of pain from Sish. He slashed at Xid’s face with his claws, leaping back  and trying to draw his lightsaber back to his claw. 

Xid jerked back far enough to limit the damage. It didn’t spare him much suffering when the tips clipped his nose bridge creating a vivid cut just under his eyes. His hand however jerked out and summoned the Sith’s lightsaber to his hand briefly, enough to pour a bit of his Mechu Deru through it. His eyes flickered in triumph for a moment when he disrupted the crystal base rendering the weapon useless. Sish’s hand gripped the hilt from Xid’s grasp, the Jedi still putting distance between him and the Sith. 

His feet stumbled, tripping over his hasty, his balance tumbled backwards causing him to fall upon his ass end. His lightsaber switch off in his panic and prevented injuring himself, Xid started to crawl in reverse to put more distance between the two before Sish realized his weapon was useless.  

Sish stalked towards Xid, trying to activate his lightsaber. He clicked it twice before realizing that it wasn’t working. “You clever little bastard.” The Sith said, jumping backwards. Sish held out a claw, and attempted to force choke the Knight. 

Xid felt his throat tighten and his hand trying to pry the invisible force off his neck, his own force trying to push back with no luck at all. His air slowly slipped from his burning lungs. His head started to become heavy and light headed, his focus drifting away. Frantic, his eyes flickered about to seek a way to turn this situation around. He spotted help immediately in the form of a droid hand lingering near Sish’s leg. A piece discarded and forgotten among the battle. He poured what force he could and since it was nearby, it twitched then clamped down on the sith’s heel back. The fingers’ grip was light at first and almost laughable. However, the longer it held… the stronger the pressure got until it started to tear and dig into flesh, ruining the back tendon to cripple the Trandoshan. 

Jakali appeared from around the corner, having watched the scene unfold until he felt it was the perfect time for him to intervene. With every noise he had heard he inched closer to the corner until he was out in the open, though he stopped quickly, after assessing the situation at hand after two seconds or so. With his organic arm raised he used the Force to fling Xid off of his feet as the droid hand was digging into the poor Trandoshan nearby. Though he did not release his grip on the boy, he instead focused more and slammed him hard into the wall, hopefully hard enough to jiggle the Jedi’s weapon away from him.

Then, with the Force behind him, he surged towards the moved Jedi, though he careful not to try using his own weapon, after having observed how the boy manipulated Sish’ lightsaber. So he instead moved a foot into him, planting him to the ground. His eyes beaming onto the fallen boy like a star’s rays. He briefly considered checking up on Sish, but the creature was tough, if he was hurt that badly by a little droid hand then did he really deserve to be helped?

Sish was distracted from the force choke, Xid being automatically released, as he looked down at the hand squeezing his heel. The Trandoshan could feel the grip tightening, and leaned down to quickly rip the hand off and throw it off to the side. By that time, Jakali had arrived and had incapacitated the jedi. 

Xid was disappointed when his counter had failed. When the forced released, he had spent a moment coughing before raising to his feet and tried to thrust his lightsaber through the Sith’s heart. Only instead of hitting his target, he was abruptly flipped backwards and knocked against the wall. His head hit the solid surface roughly sending agony within his skull followed by a daze sensation filling his vision.

His hand released his lightsaber on the impact and it skirted a short distance from where he crumbled. Trying to get back up quickly, he was promptly pinned to the ground where someone dug a foot into his back. Xid grunted and winched at the pain flooding him. The rib protested at the movement while he tried to push up but physically it was impossible. 

Seeing no other option, his hand jerked out and tried to summon his lightsaber to his hand.      

Jakali glanced down at the boy, he was impressed that he had given Sish such a strong fight, the reptile was no weakling. He watched the movements of the pinned Jedi, noticing a hand jutting out towards the Jedi’s lightsaber, but before anything could be done, Jakali shifted his footing and planted his other foot onto the hand. One on the back, the other on the hand, it worked well enough, he figured. With his organic hand he motioned for the Jedi’s lightsaber, pulling it towards him and out of where it could become a danger if Jakali slipped up and let the boy gain ground.

“If you aren’t going to let me go, then finish me off.” Xid spat with venom in his voice, his eyes hardened at the Sith around him. His sight counting the droid parts scattered and reached out to sense their condition. Slowly he tried to put together the damaged droid hand from Sish and connect it to a nearby arm, a leg reached for a foot, and all the time his body struggled under the sith to keep attention focused on him. 

“Why the hell did you attack the te-” Xid’s words stopped within the middle of his sentence when a dread washed over him. In that moment, sorrow, pain and loss filled his core. That could only mean one thing… Sela had been killed. His free hand slammed into the floor, his words soft but audible to both. “No… she can’t be dead.” 

“She? Which one of the dozens of Jedi that we slaughtered? You tend to lose count once you hit triple digits.” Jakali asked the pinned Knight, mostly using it as a taunt though he wasn’t certain who exactly the boy was speaking of, maybe a master or a friend, it didn’t matter. 

Xid’s eyes tried to snap behind him, trying to spot the owner’s face but couldn’t manage to face him. “It wouldn’t matter to someone like you who dies or lives.  Sith only look out for themselves and never once benefited anyone outside themselves. So just kill me and get it over with. I shouldn’t be any different than the others you so willingly cut down.” 

“Oh, if you only knew, young Jedi.” Jakali said, then hit the boy on the head just hard enough to knock him out, not any more to cause damage. With that Sish and he headed back to deliver the new prisoner.