[center][b][color=7bcdc8]Xeviiy Sinclair[/color] [color=7ea7d8]Leon Athos[/color][/b] [b][color=fff200]Cathar[/color][/b][/center] Leon continued to lead his fellow Republic soldiers along with Aria, having a few mixed teams of heavy and light infantry, it was better than them just being clustered together and being one large target for them. He kept glancing at Anna and Xeviiy, making sure that the battle wasn’t overwhelming them and although she was merely deflecting the attacks, for the most part, Xeviiy seemed okay with the conflict. His attention soon turned to Aria when she shouted to him, giving her a nod at her plan, “Alright, don’t worry about us, just make sure you guys stay safe.” He shouted in return, whistling for a few of heavy soldiers from each squad to come over towards him and Alek. He made sure to not pull too many from them, even with them attempting a flank, it still wasn’t wise to put all of their eggs into one basket, plus they would remaining soldiers would hold the line until his team and Aria’s advanced and pushed forward. Anna looked a bit nervous when some of the heavies and Leon started to move over to the left, whilst she had known war wasn’t something easy, she had never experienced something this intense and it was starting to rattle her nerves. Xeviiy listened to the plan that was being discussed but didn’t say anything, she was still focused on deflecting the incoming fire, but she would attempt this plan with them. She dove behind the cover where Anna was when a streak of red shot near them from a laser cannon, knowing that it’d be impossible for her to deflect that many bolts without getting hit. She noticed that Anna was shaking a bit as she held onto her blaster and Xeviiy placed a hand on her shoulder, “Hey, you’ll be alright, just stick close to me and the other Jedi and we’ll protect you, I promise.” Anna’s shaking subsided a bit as she said, “I knew it was going to be intense, but I never expected this, pretty silly for me to be scared, huh?” She exhaled some air through her nostrils with a smirk. “Not at all Lieutenant, I’m sure everyone here is scared, but like the Major said, everyone has each others’ backs, so we can count on one another, so trust in us.” Xeviiy responded, giving a small smile, Anna returning it and then took a deep breath, popping up and firing at the enemy on the other side. Xeviiy was ready to get back into the action as well when she heard the war cry of the Neo-Crusaders, three of them charging Aria, Ken and herself, she just managed to defend against the Mandalorian as his attack crashed down against her turquoise blade, sparks coming off as their two weapons clashed. His strength was intense, though she shouldn’t have been surprised, they tended to train their warriors very well; she tried to find an opening to no avail, either his attacks were too quick or any openings he made were quickly adjusted. His unrelenting assault soon cause Xeviiy to not only be disarmed, but also knocked off her feet, moving backwards as she tried to make some distance between the two of them, this wasn’t good, she had promised she wouldn’t be a liability and here she was, with her life in danger. The Mandalorian let out a chuckle as she raised his blade up, ready to strike her down, “Hey, over here!” A voice shouted, followed by a blaster bolt hitting him in the shoulder, causing him to stumble a bit, his gaze turned to who shot him, it being Anna, “You’re gonna have to go through me before you get to her!” She shouted once more as she got ready to fire at him again. The Mandalorian soon started to charge her with his blade, her blaster fire deflecting off either his blade or armor until finally he was at her, quickly striking his blade down but she managed to block it with her blaster rifle, his repeated hits however knocked the weapon out of her hands, leaving her defenseless as another one of his attacks came crashing towards her. In that instant, time seemed to slow down as Xeviiy watched the man ready to strike down Anna, “No!” She shouted as she extended out her hand, sending a wave of the force towards Anna, pushing her out of the way as his blade hit her right shoulder. Anna winced as the blade hit her and she fell to the ground, but she did appreciate Xeviiy’s assistance, no doubt that attack would’ve been serious had she not intervened. With another quick movement, Xeviiy drew her weapon to her, re-igniting the blade and then sprinted towards the man, she slid between his legs as he tried to attack her on her approach, hastily popping up and then swung her blade at him, only to be blocked. She couldn’t waste time with him, not when she had to help Anna and then assist the others, she soon remembered her sparring match with Leon and then figured she could use that to best him; the weapons clashed against one another multiple times until she finally got an opening when he went to slash her at the waist, following what Leon had done on Coruscant, she twirled her body around his, just narrowly missing being cut and then as her back met his, she stabbed him through the back, her blade piercing the armor and then exiting out of the front, “I won’t ever let my comrades die.” She said as she glanced at Anna, extinguishing her weapon and then the Mandalorian falling onto the sand face first. “Thanks kid, really saved my butt.” Anna chuckled as she gripped at her bleeding shoulder. Xeviiy made her way over to her, kneeling down and then started to examine her wound, “Hey, don’t worry about me, the Republic medics can fix me up.” Anna added as she watched Xeviiy, impressed that the girl she met only a few weeks ago and seemed distressed from training was now fighting in this war with them and wasn’t seeming to really be affected by it. “Nonsense, they’ll take too long as will your recovery, oh also I’ll let the kid remark slide this time, but don’t call me it again.” She responded with a smirk and then held out her hands over the wound, closing her eyes as she started to use the force to heal it shut. Anna looked on in amazement, the force and the Jedi were truly remarkable, she could understand how Leon was so respected in the Republic if he used powers like these in the Exar-Kun war. “There, all done, does your shoulder feel better?” She asked, snapping Anna out of her thought as she then started to move her arm, her wound completely healed and no pain coming from it, “Yeah, thanks Xeviiy.” Xeviiy gave a nod and then used the force to retrieve Anna’s rifle, handing it to her she said, “Come on, we need to regroup with Aria and the others.” Anna gave a nod and then started to run with Xeviiy to where Aria and Ken were. [hr] [center][b][color=a187be]Iri Asichi[/color][/b] [b][color=fff200]Cathar[/color][/b][/center] Vras, Noka, Sanjun and Vrol watched as Iri then headed off for battle, they knew that they couldn’t delay, otherwise they would miss their chance to help her. They looked to one another and then nodded, Vras and Sanjun soon started to ask everyone questions, messing with various computers in an attempt to distract the officers, which it did as they tried as politely as possible tell the to stop. Whilst they did that, Noka and Vrol slipped out from under the tent, looking around the camp before making their way over to the tent where the supplies Iri brough was placed, sneaking under it they were amazed at the amount of supplies in it, “Wow, this is a lot of supplies.” Noka commented, Vrol giving a few small roars in return, “Right, I guess with the amount of troops here it isn’t really a lot, come on we need to find those lightsabers.” She responded and then the two of them began looking through the various containers. The two of them continued to search the various bags and containers to no avail, “Come on, where are they?” Noka whispered as it seemed like they wouldn’t be able to find any. She let out a sigh, “I don’t think there are any here Vrol, we’ll need to get back to the others and let them know.” She spoke as she got ready to exit the tent when Vrol called to her, showing two silver hilts in his hands when she looked over at him, “Wow, you found them? Awesome!” She exclaimed before quickly covering her mouth, “Alright, we need two more and then we can give them to Vras and Sanjun.” She added, taking two sabers and hiding them in her robes. Once they had them and all the containers were in their proper place once more, Noka lifted up the side of the tent, checking to make sure the coast was clear and then motioned Vrol to move, she quickly following soon after. They soon made it back inside the main tent where their friends were, “Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.” Noka whispered to Vrol. “Hey what are you two doing?” A voiced suddenly spoke to them, Noka nervously turning around to face the woman that addressed them. “Oh, uh, we just wanted to see how amazing soldiers of the Republic worked.” She fibbed, trying to appease any ego she might have. “Well that’s very admirable of you, but our men need to stay focused, so I can’t have you two over here, okay?” The woman responded more gently. “Right, sorry about that, we didn’t mean any harm by it.” Noka responded with an innocent expression. The woman let out a chuckle, “That’s quite alright.” She then lead them back to where Vras and Sanjun were, “So, did you two get them?” Vras asked, Noka smirking as she opened her robe a bit, revealing one of the lightsaber hilts. “Wow, I could kiss you!” Vras quietly exclaimed, a hint of a red blush going across her face, “Right, well save it for after the war.” She joked a bit, her and Vrol subtly handing each of them a hilt. “Okay, now we need to get out of here, Master Asichi couldn’t have gotten too far.” Vras added, then motioned for the three of them to follow, heading over to Captain Harluk. “Excuse me, Captain?” Vras spoke as he gently tugged on the man’s sleeve. “Hmm, what is it now young one?” He responded, his tone slightly stern from previous pestering, but he tried to stay relaxed for the most part. “Sorry to bother you again, but we were wondering if there was a refresher nearby, we didn’t go before we arrived.” Captain Harluk figured a bathroom break for them would give him and his men a small reprieve and said, “Sure, there’s a small one nearby,” He paused for a moment, looking to one of the men standing guard, “Private, over here.” The man quickly made his way over, “Yes, sir?” “The four of them need to go to the bathroom, escort them please.” The private tried to not show his disappointment as he saluted, “Yes sir!” Then started to escort them to the nearby bathroom, “Now you four don’t take too long, alright?” The private asked when they finally got there. Vras and the others nodded, heading inside the small bathroom, there being two doors, one for male and one for female, “Alright, now let’s find a way out of here and get to Master Asichi.” Vras spoke as the four of them tried to find a window or vent that would allow them to sneak out of there and then the camp. Their search however revealed that both the vents and few windows there were too small for any of them to fit through, “Ugh, we can’t get through any of these.” Vras commented, “Well I guess there’s only one thing to do.” He added, pulling out the lightsaber given to him; it was slightly larger than their hands, but they for the most part could still wield them with little effort. Noka quickly grabbed his wrist, “No, don’t do that.” “What? Why not? It’ll be faster this way.” “Think about it, you turn that on and start cutting through the wall, they’ll hear us and then take these away and we’ll be stuck here.” Noka responded firmly. Vras lowered the weapon, knowing she was, “Alright, so what do we do then?” Noka paused for a moment, closing her eyes as she thought, “Aha, that’s it.” She spoke as her eyes shot open with a smirk appearing on her face and then walked over to door, cracking it open and seeing the private standing near it as he awaited them. She then used the force to make a noise nearby, the soldier going over to investigate the sound and then the four of them quickly rushed out, heading towards the path where their teacher went. “Vras, we’re going to be in so much trouble when we catch up to her, you know that right?” Noka asked as they were running. “Probably, but I care much more about Master Asichi than whatever trouble we might get into, you can always stay here if you’re worried.” He responded with a smirk. “Not on your life, just wanted to make sure you understood the potential consequences.” She smirked back to him. Meanwhile up on the front, Iri was busy assisting the troops and few Jedi that were fighting the Mandalorians, they were slightly outnumbered but they could win this. “You four, assist the other Jedi over there, the right flank is weakening.” “But sir, what about here?” One of the soldiers responded. “I’ll be fine, it’s not that bad, go and assist the others, now!” She shouted to them as she deflected the incoming fire. They quickly rushed over to the weakening flank, reinforcing it with their small numbers and that helped push back a few of the Mandalorians that were trying to advance forward. Iri continued to deflect the incoming fire, then rushed in towards the enemy’s left flank, fluidly moving her body to either deflect or entirely avoid the incoming fire and then struck both their weapons and them, either their arms or legs being entirely cut off, she was going to try and avoid as many casualties as possible, but knew simply disabling their weapons wouldn’t be enough to stop them. Vras and the others soon made it to the battlefield, they quickly found some bushes to hide in, knowing that both the Republic and the enemy would be surprised to see children on the battlefield and they could be used as leverage. They instantly spotted Iri, watching in awe as she moved with grace against the enemy, impressed by how she seemed to easily fight against such brutes without much effort, this was why they wanted to assist her. Four Mandalorians surrounded her, pulling out their blades, “It’ll be a joy to make you my first Jedi kill, you should consider it an honor.” One of them spoke to her. “You hardly know about honor, willing to slaughter innocents in such an unneeded war to prove what? That you’re strong, but I shouldn’t expect any less from brutes such as yourselves.” She glared at them, the calmness in her voice not leaving. They obviously didn’t like this, “Just for that, we’ll have a little fun with you first before we kill you, quite an exquisite Jedi you are.” The same Mandalorian spoke as he eyed her up and down, his words clearly implicit. She gave a small smirk, “Like I said, just a bunch of brutes, guess you four are the weakest of your clan if that’s the only way you can get a woman.” This seemed to anger them more and then they let out a battle cry, charging her and just like when she fought her students, she twisted the center of her hilt, splitting them into two and then blocked the two men at her side, “Now we’ve got you!” The Mandalorian shouted as he and his comrade behind her raised their blades over their heads, ready to crash them down on her. In an instant with the assistance of the force, she slid her blades against theirs as she turned her body, making a small whirlwind against them that sent them flying, then blocked the other two that were attacking her. “You were saying something about having me?” She spoke as she turned her head to the Mandalorian struggling to push against her lightsaber. “Smug, we like the ones that fights back at first, makes it more fun.” He responded with a chuckle, the two of them slashing at her rapidly as the two she pushed away got up and returned to fighting her as well. Vras had a look of worry on his face, he didn’t like seeing Iri outnumbered and went to move out of the bushes to assist her, only for Sanjun to grab his shoulder and stop him, “What do you think you’re doing? I need to help her.” He spoke as he faced Sanjun. “No, we need to stay here and help only when it’s necessary, right now she’s fine, just look.” He pointed at the fight going on, Iri was still fending them off with moderate ease. “Sanjun’s right, Master Asichi isn’t in any danger at the moment, so we need to be patient.” Noka chimed in. Vras let out a sigh, “I know you guys are right, I just don’t like her being outnumbered.” The four Mandalorians all charged her once more, all at the same time, figuring even if she blocked two, she wouldn’t be able to block the others, however rather than blocking, Iri used the force to leap into the air and then used the force once more to to pull them towards one another, the four of them crashing into one another and then falling to the ground as Iri gently landed on her feet. “Guess I was right, you guys are the weakest of your clan, surrender now and the Republic will see you’re treated fairly.” She spoke as they struggled to get up. Then the same one that threatened her started to laugh, “What’s so funny?” She asked as she quirked her brow. “Such an arrogant Jedi, it’ll be your downfall.” He responded and then a fifth Mandalorian that got behind her grasped both his hands and slammed them into Iri’s back, sending her stumbling forward but she managed to regain her footing. She winced as she straightened her back, he had some serious power to his hits; another Mandalorian then surprised her once more, coming in with a kick that she barely managed to block with her arms but it sent her into a nearby rock, letting out a gasp as her injured back slammed into it. She collapsed to the ground, struggling to get up, coughing as she tried to get air into her lungs. “See Jedi, I told you that arrogance would be your downfall.” He chuckled as the six of them surrounded Iri. “Come on, we have to help her out now.” Vras urged, wanting to move but Sanjun still wasn’t letting him leave. “Don’t count Master Asichi out just yet.” He responded, figuring this fight was far from over. The six Mandalorians all raised their blades up and were met with resistance when they all crashed down against Iri’s, three on each of her blades, she then lifted her head up, her eyes shooting open and a blast of the force sent the six of them flying away from her. “I’ve faced a lot in my life, so don’t you brutes dare underestimate me.” She glared at them, extending out her arms and used the force to pick two of them up by their throats, choking them. Vras, Noka, Sanjun and Vrol’s eyes widened when they saw their teacher choke two of the Mandalorians with the force, “Th-That’s a dark Jedi power.” Noka said in shock, not believing what she was seeing. “I-I can’t believe it, I never knew that Master Asichi could use the force like that.” Sanjun responded, clearly they were all stunned their teacher who preached the ways of the light was using the force in such a negative way. The two men that were struggling slowly stopped, mere moments away from death until Iri realized what she was doing and quickly let them go, “No, I promised my master I wouldn’t use the force like that anymore.” She spoke to herself, distracted by what she had almost done with the force and didn’t notice one of the Mandalorians come rushing up, slamming his fist against her face and sent her into the rock once more, knocking her weapons from her hands as well. “What’s the matter Jedi? Afraid to kill?” The same Mandalorian that taunted her before said, picking her up and setting her against the rock, then slammed his fist into her gut, the other three Mandalorians that were still conscious ran up to assist their comrade, punching and kicking her nonstop, blood being coughed up by her as it pooled in her body. Then he went over to where their vibroblades were, picking them up and handing it to each of them, ready to deliver the final blow, “I know I said we’d have our fun with you before we killed you, but you wouldn’t be much fun now.” He chuckled, then the four of them raised their blades up as Iri closed her eyes, ready to accept her impending fate. There was a sudden sound of sparks as the weapons came down, Iri curious why she wasn’t dead yet, opened her eyes and saw her four students with lightsabers, all blocking the Mandalorians’ blades, “You four...w-what are you four doing here.” Iri weakly asked as she coughed some more blood. Vras glanced back at his master and then to the Mandalorians, “You will not harm our master.” A look of anger on his face as well as the faces of Noka, Sanjun and Vrol. “What they’re sending children in to fight now? The Jedi have truly become pathetic.” One of them said and then the eight of the engaged in battle, although since the Mandalorians were trained warriors, they had the clear advantage in height, power, strength and even fighting prowess. The four students just barely managing to block their attacks. “No, run.” Iri spoke to them hoarsely, knowing her students were too young to be fighting in a war such as this. It wasn’t long before they were overpowered, first Vrol as he was disarmed and then kicked away, followed by Noka and then Sanjun, leaving only Vras who received a hard right hook that knocked him to the ground. “Thought you were going to stop us boy, what happened?” One of them taunted, Vras angrily getting up and then slashed at him vigorously, the man easily blocking all, until Vras got a lucky shot in and hit him in the shoulder, “Agh, you brat!” She shouted as he disarmed him and then slammed his foot into his chest, sending him skidding a few short feet away. “I’ve had enough of playing with these tots, let’s hurry up and end them.” He growled as he held his shoulder. “N-No, please don’t, they’re just...children.” Iri struggled to say as she tried to crawl towards them. “If they’re old enough to fight, they’re old enough to die, shame too really, few more years and they could have been excellent warriors, oh well.” The four of them then separated, going to each child on the ground, turning their blades downwards. “No, you can’t...” Iri spoke again, trying to crawl towards them once more. “Watch us.” The man grinned under his helmet, the four of them raising their blades up, Iri’s eyes widened and in an instant, pulled her blades to her, using the force to help her up and then rushed towards them, “No!” She shouted, plunging her blades into the two that were standing over Vrol and Sanjun, using the force once more to assist her, spinning and then flinging the two men off her blades and into some nearby trees. This sudden action caused the other two to hesitate and then quickly charge her to avenge their fallen comrades, her heightened senses thanks to the force allowed her to easily dodge by sliding under their blades then turned around, quickly twirling her blades, then a few seconds later the two men dropped to the ground, their heads rolling from their bodies as the ground absorbed some of the blood. “No one, harms my students.” She panted, Vras, Sanjun, Vrol and Noka having watched in complete disbelief. “Are you four alright?” She asked, continuing to pant heavily, they simply responding with nods, “Good.” She spoke with a smile before her blades extinguished and she collapsed herself. “Master Asichi!” The four of them shouted and then got up, rushing over to her, “Hey, someone help!” Noka shouted as the last of the fighting soon began to finish, two medics quickly came running up with a stretcher. “Children? What are children doing here?” One of them asked. “Never mind us, just help our master!” Vras growled at them, looking back to Iri as they rolled her onto the stretcher and then began rushing her back to the nearby camp, Noka grabbing their master’s lightsabers and then the four of them ran with the medics. [hr] [center][b][color=silver]Antares Solborne[/color][/b] [b][color=fff200]Cathar[/color][/b][/center] Antares continued through the jungle with the container, he hated that his ship had been shot down but AA, but from what he could at least see, it didn’t seem that serious, but still it would’ve made transporting whatever was in the container a lot easier, plus he didn’t really know how long it would take to walk to his destination, probably a few hours at the very least. There was some rustling from a nearby bush, he quickly pulled out his blaster and aimed it at where the sound was coming from, a small rodent went running by and Antares let out a sigh of relief, “Heh, getting startled by a small rodent, I need to relax, no one even knows where I am.” He then heard another noise, glancing over, he saw a squad of Mandalorian soldiers near where he was, [i]‘Just great, I had to open my big mouth,’[/i] he thought to himself, looking around and eventually found a cave, rushing with his cargo in toe, he entered the cave just as the squad started to go through the area. “Remember, search everywhere, Republic dogs could be hiding anywhere.” One of the men spoke up and then they spread out a bit, one of them heading towards the cave he was in, “Course you’d want to check over here.” He spoke quietly to himself as he got his weapon ready, this would be a difficult fight if he gets discovered. Just then blaster fire started to go off, the other Mandalorians went rushing off to where the blaster fire was coming from, it had been a group of Republic soldiers waiting to ambush some of the Mandalorians. It was good for him, at least they would be able to distract them whilst he continued on towards his destination, once more it seemed like his luck was still in place, though everyone’s luck ran out sooner or later, his more often than naught was the latter.