[center][h2]~| Jedi Archives |~
~| Day 1, 12[sup]th[/sup] hour |~[/center]


Nazca cursed quietly. She had expected to miss but she hadn’t even come [i]close[/i]. Rather than answer the Sith’s calls, she crept backwards into the archives. If the Sith was going to follow her, she wanted to be on the move. If the Sith wasn’t, she wanted to get another angle. She certainly wasn’t going to give the schutta an idea of her location. She may be bad at fighting, but she wasn’t a complete idiot. Nazca quietly moved backwards, heading deeper into the archives and moving towards the left. Ideally, the Sith would assume she had been scared off. 

One could hope, right?

There was no surprise in Nimm’s mind when her words remained unanswered. She could pursue, but that would mean the risk of someone else taking her treasure. She knew without a doubt that the individual was no Sith, but whether it was a trained Jedi or some other form of weakling, she did not know. Or care. If it was a temple guard, he or she would die soon enough in any case. If it was a Jedi, maybe it would be foolish enough to enter the vault and she could pacify it then. Thus, instead of going out, she went deeper into the vault, keeping a part of her mind focused upon the interloper’s general location. With the rest of her mind and her body, she continued loading up the artifacts, more than a little pleased to note that many of them were stored in freight boxes already. She would hook them all together and stack them on the repulsorsled. Only then would she consider dealing with the interloper. 

Nazca cursed again. She couldn’t just leave the bitch to rob the Jedi vaults, as much as she wanted to, and she couldn’t take her head on. [i]What to do, what to do.[/i] She looked around, still moving quietly through the archives, and her eyes fell upon a group of dead imperial soldiers. Crushed by rubble and a lightsaber. “Someone put up a fight.” She murmured as she moved towards the corpses. They could have something useful on them. Ideally a thermal detonator or five. Searching the bodies only revealed four sonic grenades. 

“These will have to do.” She tucked them onto her belt, moving more rapidly to the vault now. She didn’t have much time, and she somehow doubted the Sith just forgot about her. She’s never been that lucky. Nazca slowed down as she came closer to the vault, dropping into her crouch again. She peeked around the entrance to the vault, seeing the sith collecting more holocrons deeper within, their back turned to her. 

Nazca reached down and primed the first grenade, counting out three seconds and slowly cocking her arm back as she did so. She didn’t know how long these were set, but it was more than likely only 4-5 seconds. At three, she heaved the grenade as hard as she could towards the sith, swiftly following it with the others. They weren’t drawn out as much, but the idea was to stun the Sith with the first one and keep them stunned with the other three.

As soon as the first one went off Nazca started firing her blaster at the repulsorsled. She wasn’t going to be able to take the Sith on, but she could at least hinder her robbing of the vault.

Her plan went exactly as expected. The foolish Jedi or Jedi minion—Nimm did not care overmuch which it was—was drawn in. Probably by some foolish need to stop her. A futile attempt, of course. She could sense the individual approaching. Not in the clear way one would by using  sight or such, but rather a general presence.

While her prey prepared to do whatever was planned, Nimm kept “working” on her own project, ready to turn around at any moment. She had not gotten this far by being foolish. Thus, when the prey tossed something towards her, Nimm snapped around, her lightsaber already lit. She saw a small object flying her way and it took her but a moment to realize what it was. A grenade. More specifically, imperial army issue sonic grenade.

There were two general means of dealing with that that didn’t involve being affected by it. First, she could push it away (or back) with the Force. For an explosive grenade or a thermal detonator, that would be ideal. In a constricted space like these vaults, the sonic blast might still be annoying. Thus, her choice fell on option two: she slashed at the grenade, causing a momentary fizzle, followed by a tiny explosion as the grenade disintegrated upon contact with her blade.

At that point, she spotted the three follow-up grenades and was almost impressed with her prey. Unfortunately for her prey, they were all aimed at her, rather than spread out. Thus, she made short work of all four grenades. If they had been all tossed in different directions, one or maybe even two of them could have detonated.

This did not prepare her for what came next, though. Her prey had a blaster and fired it at the repulsorsled. There were some loud impact noises and a corner of the sled dropped, indicating that one of the repulsors was at minimum damaged, if not permanently disabled.

Nimm advanced towards her prey, keeping her saber in a defensive stance, ready to deflect any future shots. Considering the absences of a lightsaber, Jedi robes and any other form of uniform, Nimm concluded that this either had to be a recent recruit or a civilian. Time would tell on which of those. If the former, captivity would ensue. If the latter, death.

Nazca fired a few more shots at the repulsor sled, turning her attention to the approaching Sith. “Oh! Hi! You noticed that! I’m sure you’re the understanding type though. You know, the kind that won’t be angry just because my gun misfired. Stupid thing, should’ve gotten it fixed months ago.” She began retreating backwards, firing pot shots at the Sith and the repulsorsled. “So, if you don’t mind, I’ll just be heading out. Things to do, artifacts to save, you know how it goes.”

“Oh, I rather do mind...” said Nimm as she reached out with the Force, trying to pull the blaster from the interloper’s hands. She had a feeling the interloper was at least in some way Force-sensitive, even if the degree was uncertain. If the pull worked, it would clearly prove how pathetic her training was, or perhaps just how pathetic the interloper was. If that did not work, then she would find some other means of pacification.

Nazca clung to her blaster, digging her feet in. “Oh no you don’t. Didn’t your mother ever teach you that it’s rude to take people’s things without asking?” She couldn’t fire any more shots, they’d go wider than they already were. The Sith was stopped, which was a plus, but they seemed to be in a bit of a stalemate. “Did you have to cut all the grenades? I mean, couldn’t you have at least let one go off? For the sake of fairness?”

“That will be your first lesson of the day: Life is not fair.” At that moment, she rapidly reversed her pull on the blaster into a powerful push, so she could test the balance of her new toy. Not as fun a plaything as the Jedi from earlier, but she thought there would at least be some entertainment to be had from it.

Nazca yelped, quickly regaining her balance as the pull became a push. Rather than hold on to the weapon shoving her backwards, she let go of the weapon and ran for the imperial corpses. Ideally, they had more weapons for her to use. She instinctively ducked low, running  in a crouch despite how useless it would be against a sith.

There was no need for Nimm to immediately pursue. Her prey was rather weak. There would be no escape. If she did not catch her, another Sith would. Or, of course, if she actually managed to hide, she would die with the temple’s destruction. She did not care which it would be. No doubt the girl would seek to find another weapon. Probably from the same source as the sonic grenades. Blasters, even the kind provided to imperial troopers, were inevitably vastly inferior to the lightsaber.

Instead, Nimm looked over the repulsorsled. One of the repulsors were damaged, but she lacked the tools to fix it. What she would need to do, is find a way to protect it from further damage. Fortunately, she knew just what to take. She went to the doorway and cut pieces of the wall—roughly plate-like—then attached them to the sled using the lightsaber to effectively weld them in place. Though it reduced the capacity of the sled somewhat, it would also protect it from further interference via blasters. Only after attaching that did she load the final few objects onto it, preparing for departure. She had naturally secreted several of the most promising artifacts and holocrons on her own person, but not one would be left behind. With that done, she prepared to leave, pondering what sort of surprise the girl had prepared in a foolish attempt to stop her.

“Damn it, son of a bitch, piece of shit…” Naza cursed at the imperial blaster in her hand. She couldn’t run, sith were everywhere and she was far more likely to get shot then actually solve anything. But what she could do is ruin this Sith’s day some more. Or, at the very least, slow her down enough that a jedi who wouldn’t be eviscerated instantly could deal with her.

She managed to crack the blaster open, taking out the core. Luck had been getting her this far. She just needed a few more moments of it. The core was sparking and vibrating alarmingly, but that was to be expected, given how she had just ripped it out.

She was waiting by the exit, listening to the telltale whine of the repulsorsled approach. She pulled back her hand, waiting until the Sith was just about to appear. Nazca heaved the core, hoping it wouldn’t explode in her face. She got her wish. It didn’t explode in her face. It exploded almost as soon as it left her hand.

The explosion knocked her backwards and sent her flying into a nearby wall. “Fuck!” She groaned, holding her head. “That didn’t go as pla…” She trailed off, looking at the cauterized stump that had been her right hand. Going pale as snow, Nazca gave a weak chuckle. “Sith’s Blood. That’s not good.”

The repulsorsled was just inside the new doorway to the vaults when Nimm heard a surprisingly loud explosion. Though nothing more than a few of the primitive Jedi Holocrons fell down, things did shake violently. She ignored those holocrons, looking through the opening at where the telltale signs of nearby the explosion could be seen.

She halted the sled, then walked past it to look out through the doorway she’d cut. What met her eyes was both expected and unexpected. To the left of the doorway, a few meters off beside one of the stacks, the girl lay on the ground. Her clothes were singed in numerous places from the explosion, and the floor around her was littered with parts from an imperial-issue blaster rifle. These parts bore clear evidence of it having been taken apart without notable skill or knowledge. It had not been destroyed by the explosion as some would have surmised.

But the thing that stood out most was the way the girl clutched her right wrist with her left hand. The right wrist ending in a stump, her face pale as snow. “That was foolish of you. I suggest you wisen up and surrender before you kill yourself.” her tone was both condescending, somewhat demanding and calmer than most would have expected from such a situation. The stump was cauterized, so the girl would not die from the injury. She would never be the same again, but that would be her lesson to learn. 

“If you cannot compensate for your blatantly obvious flaws, then I can arrange for you to receive a cybernetic hand to replace the one you just blew up.” In saying this, Nimm let her opinion of cybernetic replacement parts show. She scorned such almost as much as she hated Jedi. Until the girl surrendered or was otherwise further incapacitated, Nimm would not reach for the shock collar on her belt. No point in giving the girl any advance notice.

Nazca gave a harsh laugh. “‘Blatantly obvious flaws’ like ignoring someone until they damage my only means of getting a good number of holocrons out of the vault? That was sloppy Sith. If I had been a better shot, we wouldn’t be in this situation.” She scanned Nimm’s form, looking for something to tell her what the Sith’s style would be. Two extra lightsabers, close together. Souvenirs. Nazca’s eyes widened in alarm, bordering on full blown panic, at the sight of the slave collar. “Surrender? So you can put your bit of fashion there around my neck? No thank you. I’ll just be leaving.” Nazca heaved herself unsteadily to her feet, wobbling only slightly, and began to move backwards. Running wouldn’t do her any good, and she would at least be able to react to some degree when she was facing the Sith.

“You mean this slave collar?” Nimm answered, tapping it with her empty hand. “That I keep in reserve for any who do not come quietly.” She was a bit surprised that the girl could recognize one while it was disabled and folded back. Perhaps she had experience with slavery?

Nazca sniffed. “You know, I can smell the bullshit all the way over here. You’re a Sith. One who gets mild pleasure from power over others. You’re going to stick that on whoever you can, which currently means me if I let you. Kindly go find someone else to get your fix on.” She kept moving backwards, keeping her stump close to her body.

“Ahh… I see the Jedi have begun indoctrinating you with their falsehoods about the Sith. Tell me, how much do you truly know of the empire? Beyond the standard republic propaganda, that is.” 

“Same thing as everyone else who is caught in the middle. Power hungry assholes attacking emotionless assholes over control of the galaxy because their mothers never taught them how to play nice and share, each claiming that their religion is the better and true one. Not to mention, if you don’t agree they’ll either gradually make bad things happen to you or just kill you. I’m not dumb enough to believe that you salt houses, burn women, and rape fields. All of you at any rate.” Nazca replied, moving farther back. There was a range on these force powers, right? There had to be.

“Though your education is sorely lacking, at least the Jedi have not completely blinded you. I can work with that.” She noted that the girl was attempting to subtly sidle back, probably with the intent to flee, but Nimm did not make any move yet to stop her. It was not as if there was anywhere she could flee to. “You really should try to learn more about the Empire. You will no doubt find it… Illuminating.” Soon enough, Nimm would have to stop the girl’s nonsensical escape, but not yet. Besides, she needed to get this cargo back onto the ship. That was far more important than toying with this girl. She pressed a few commands into her wrist unit, both summoning a large squad of troopers and a few mechs to make sure no one interfered. The keying in was subtle, but she suspected the girl would still notice—and misinterpret—the gesture.

Nazca noticed the sith doing something with the device on her wrist. Whatever it was, the unwilling Jedi didn’t want to find out. While the sith was still in the middle of whatever she was doing, Nazca ran for it. She was heading for the cover to her right, hoping that the stories of Sith and Jedi needing to see you to affect you were true and that this sith didn’t have quick reflexes.

She had been waiting for the girl to run. It was inevitable. Thus, she quickly finished up the commands on her wrist unit and tossed the selfsame piece of databank from the previous fight towards the back of the girl’s legs. Or rather towards where the back of her legs would be in a few seconds, which was the time it would take for it to arrive.

Nazca glanced briefly over her shoulder to see what the Sith was doing and her eyes widened in alarm. A databank was zooming towards her at an alarming speed. She attempted to skid to a stop, ideally making it go past her, only to have it catch her in the back of the legs. Nazca rolled, crying out as her stump hit the floor, scrambling back to her feet almost instantly. She started to run again.

‘That girl really doesn’t take a hint…’ Nimm thought to herself. With that thought, she decided for more direct action. She stretched out her empty hand, willing the Force to choke the girl before she got out of sight. It would be much more troublesome to track her down if she did. She did not desire that trouble.

Nazca let out a strangled gasp, hand and stump instinctively going towards her throat as she was lifted a few inches into the air. She clawed at hands that weren’t there, feet scraping against the floor. It wasn’t working, of course, and her lungs were beginning to burn. Distantly, as panic swelled inside of her, she wondered why the Sith had taken so long to do this. Her movements became more desperate and wild as a darkness began to claw at the edge of her vision. [i]No! Stop.[/i] Panicking would take away what little controls she had left. 

She had one chance. Forcibly, despite the panic that racing through her, she began to slow her movements and kicking. Gradually, she made herself go limp and close her eyes, hoping the Sith would let her go before she actually passed out. 

While Nimm could easily have killed the girl or knocked her unconscious, she kept firm control over exactly how much force she was using. The result would no doubt bruise, but it let the girl get just enough air in through her throat not to lose consciousness. As she maintained this, she dragged the girl back to herself. “Did I tell you you could leave?” A small part of her was tempted to attach the shock collar now, but instead she decided to go for something else. She kept the girl up in the air, but relaxed the choking just a little more, permitting her to speak. Not enough to completely free up her throat, though.

Nazca didn’t so much as twitch, keeping up the pretense that she had actually passed out. Given that the sith was talking to her, she didn’t expect it to actually work, but maybe she’d get lucky. 

“Not even a Jedi would be fooled by that, girl.” She put away her lightsaber and seemingly reached for the shock collar to see whether the girl would keep up her act.

Nazca jerked in panic, eyes popping open as she attempted to move back. “Had to try. Thought you might be an idiot.” Her voice was only slightly strangled, given the force around it.

“The only idiots you’ll find around here are the Jedi. After all, they thought they were safe here.”

“Everyone has an area they think is safe from someone else. Then that person or another goes in and destroys it. It’s happened to the Sith before, it’ll happen to the Sith again. Always does. Then it’ll be the Jedi’s turn once more, and the cycle will continue.”

“If that happens to Dromund Kaas, then it is only deserved, for the strong will inevitably triumph over the weak.” Nimm fingered the shock collar, but did not unclasp it from its socket. “Now, you can either come quietly, or you can get no influence at all about how you come along. The choice is yours.”

“Oh, gee, thanks! I’m so glad that while you have me held in the air by my neck with the force, and the ability to strangle me to unconsciousness at a moment’s notice, I have influence in this situation.” Nazca replied with acidic sarcasm. “Let’s go Sith, I’m too tired to run anymore.”

“Good.” Nimm did note that—conveniently enough—the troops she had requested arrived mere moments later. “It seems your escort has arrived, girl.”

Nimm turned to the troopers. “It is time to return to the ship. Someone put some stun-cuffs on this girl. After you search her, of course. If she doesn’t behave, put a shock collar on her.”

If Nazca wasn’t already pale as snow, she would have paled further. As it was, she merely replied “Blah, blah, blah, you have a fetish for shock collars and control, got it.” Nonetheless, she behaved as she was searched and cuffed. “Really, two cuffs? I only have on hand, come on now.” She followed, stumbling slightly, as she was taken to the ship.

“While pain is an effective motivator, I have found that the promise of pain is even more so. Be glad it was I that captured you and not one of those who hold to pain applied being the only motivator.”