The trek through the ice cave had been a cold and slippery one. Fortunately, the wildlife seemed to have stayed at bay after the maniacal roaring and scattergun blasts from one of their compatriots. They did not like the idea of fire, indeed.
Tunneled openings had let them further down, sometimes requiring the use of rope to rappel down, or at other times required improvised ice picks to scale the rocky walls. They had known they were on the right path as heat and radiation picked up. Ahead of them stood the remains of more bulkhead walls, broken pipes between the duracrete spewing hot steam. Clouds of sparkling crystals reflected the dim amber lights as water froze in the air.
With a hiss, coming from her mask, the Governor let out an exasperated sigh. Electric-blue eyes peered at the rest of the party before she raised her clawed hand. “We need to reach further into the east, so this should be our way back into the Fortress.” There was a loud whistle as she recycled the pressurized air with the, still, clean, cold air of the ice-cave. “Check for any tears in your gear, I have a feeling it will get hotter soon.”
“Right” Natsu quickly did as asked, checking for tears or anything wrong with her gear. “All good here.”
Meshita wanted to give everyone in ear shot a sarcastic rebuttal about the rip in the clothes beneath her armor, the very same rip that had allowed radiation to come pouring into her suit like an open invitation to a Nal Hutta house party. Manda only knew how Anders would react. She could practically feel him rolling his eyes at her mere thought process.
“All good here, got some rips that let the radiation in, but I’m mostly in one piece,” she checked her gear, her fingers tracing along her many explosives as a grin stretched across her face. “Other than that? Looks like I’m all good here! Anyone need any help with anything?”
Circe held out a roll of tape towards Meshita, “I know it’s not perfect, but it could fix the tears in your suit.”
She looked around and frowned slightly, “I am as ready as can be. I can also provide some healing if needed, else I would like to spare my reserves.”
“Good.” Tir'eivra walked past the two women and bent down as she stepped into the durasteel room. The first thing she noticed were two vats filled with fuel of some kind, with cables connected to an inanimate droid on the other side of the room.
“Alright, stay back for a moment.” Her clawed hand reached for the Smart Pistol on her high-waisted belt. She set the laser-tracking system to lock onto the vat. With a gentle pull of the trigger, she fired a pellet and jumped out of the room.
A loud rumbling explosion lit up the room as she sidestepped behind the wall. A plume of fire spurted out of it.
“Clear.”
An alarm blared as the contained fireball subsided.
Meshita held her hands up. “How quick can you get it done? I’m sure <@414705077484257280>-bot over there is eager to get to blowing shit up.”
She stared a moment at her before sighing and going about taping up the tears in her suit. “Looks like Alaisy has already started with that, though.”
Meshita made a light hearted attempt at a shrug and spoke with a deadpan tone. “Oh no. Those poor droids…”
Jorm shrugged in all his silvery glory and replaced the spent shells in his gun with more heavy slugs.
“I mean, yeah, but that was an alright small fix. Latex and burning fuel, smells like a new speeder, and those sirens announce a serious test drive, nay?”
Meshita felt like she was a swoop bike in a pitstop with how methodical Circe was being piecing her undersuit back together. It didn’t stop Meshita from being eager to get going, however. There were likely more droids to deal with. When there’s smoke, there’s fire, as they say.
“Good. I’ve got some cans of whoop ass to unload on these tin bots.”
Seeing the big hole in the wall leading towards the east, Meshita raised her hand. “I vote we take the big, giant hole. All in favour say aye?”
<@188018248241905664> <@414705077484257280> <@417336769181122562> <@77213354619318272> <@1087501385978892370> <@726917162136109117> <@61385159655559168> <@236498422855630850>
“Aye”
“Yay!” Meshita wrapped her now taped up arm over Meleu’s shoulder. “Let’s go, new best buddy!”
“Just go already,” the tall Sith said with an exasperated tone of voice. Then she went off into the smoldering room.
The clacking of her heels almost drowned out the metallic clanging of the nearby droids. One of them lacked subtlety to the point of using an airhorn to announce itself. Perhaps its joints weren’t oiled for a while.
A second droid fared even worse as it noticed the black-clad woman entering the room. A round explosive device was thrown at her platforms. Without even noticing the danger she kicked it right back in the direction of the droid.
And despite being the only capable clanker, it had to now avoid the explosive its buddy had thrown.
Meshita followed Alaisy into the room, dragging a maybe/maybe not reluctant Meleu in tow.
She gripped her blaster and readied to shoot at any hostiles.
A smug smile formed behind her mask as Aphotis felt the round explosive device bouncing off her boot.
“Uh oh,” a robotic voice could be heard, before the explosive went off.
Bits of metal were strewn in front of Alaisy and Meshita. And the only capable droid ended up in front of them, exposed, its motivators slightly worried.
The last syllable had barely escaped the B1’s voice processor as plasma soared across and struck it in its cranium. Its head spun comically around before falling off, its body slumping after it.
“You know,” Meshita holstered her blaster. “I’m really starting to dislike droids.”
“Hey, Circe! You coming in!? Natsu!? Bring pointy-ears with you too!” Meshita hollered back. “You too, <@414705077484257280>-bot, or does that not compute with you?”
The Mandalorian wandered I to the bey of the beast with complete reckless abandonment and a complete disregard for her own safety.
Just the way she liked it.
<@1087501385978892370> <@188018248241905664> <@417336769181122562> <@236498422855630850> <@77213354619318272>
Circe rolled her eyes as she followed the group, really doubting now if saving her was a good idea after all.
It wasn’t long before Cassandra trailed the rear, coming up to Meshita and Alaisy.
“Understandable. It seems like this area is definitely more defended than what we faced above, almost as if they didn’t expect us to have reached this section the way we did.” she responded while pulling the datapad from her pouch. They still had a significant amount of distance to cover, and at least with the heat issues taken care of…for now…it should be smooth sailing if they could manage it.
She well knew, however, they couldn’t dawdle as it would be a matter of time before the heat levels started to resume themselves if the water from the caverns ceased or weakened. “We’ve still got a significant ways to go. If only we had a Nexu or something with us to pounce and destroy these things…”
“Awww a kitty!” Meshita cooed, just imagining having a feline of her own to smother. She could get lonely sometimes.
Nexu even smiled back.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Times-a-wasting or whatever the expression is.”
She simply shrugged.
“Affirmative, user tin can. Logic dictates you walk ahead and search for tripmines,” Jorm retorted and caught up.
“Aspirations of animal cruelty nonwithstanding,” he touched Cassandra by the elbow, “have you done your homework on this place?”
<@61385159655559168>
“As much as is known. Aside from the layout schematics, and what existed on the station before its fall, nothing on its current state is known. This is the furthest down anyone has come.”
Dasha follows everyone else, vibroblade at the ready yet she seemed more interested in looking around for terminals and the like for information and perhaps someone forgetting to log out of their access. Chances are low yet… never hurts to try!
“Forget about the deck plans. What do you know about the frakkers who built and commanded it?”
Natsu followed them in “I hope I can provide more accisstance soon.”
“She knows that Lord First was probably a collosal asshole that kept both the city and this place under wraps,” Meshita could feel the eyes looking at her. “What? It’s what Anders said, though he had more choice words than asshole.”
The Mandalorian placed a hand on Natsu’s shoulder. “Hey, your doing great. Just keep doing what your doing.”
As most of the team seemed to be sticking together, they could see two Magnaguards climbing up the walls. With a flourish, they both readied their blades. Loud metal stomping could be heard from the lower level, something heavier was trying to catch up.
Moments before…
She questioned Ander’s accuracy on that, hearing the statement from Meshita. Everything she could find showed the city’s information wasn’t removed until right after his disappearance and the Grand Admiral’s kidnapping and assassination. Before that, it was kept in the dark from the senate and public eye but within the Taldryan archives where not many could have altered the data except someone from inside Taldryan’s ranks. That was a dangerously potential accusation, but the circumstances around at least one of the previous leaders clearly pointed to an inside job. It just couldn’t be proven who yet, not until she found the second lightsaber that was still missing.
“It doesn’t fit who the Lord First was, at least from what I saw from my time as a Senator,” she responded to Meshita before turning attention to Jorm, “Regardless, this facility was created by Taldryan’s predecessors who ruled Kasiya. It was operated and controlled by a central artificial intelligence system under the control of their leader. It was fried, however, after Jorm sent the reactor into meltdown and backsurges destroyed its systems. Our researchers were able to verify that much the last few yea-”
She trailed off as out of the corner of her eye she saw the magnaguards. Her sabers snapped to her hands and ignited. Then came the stomping.
“Here we go again..”
Upon finding a terminal, Dasha holds out the droid to see if it could log in and unlock the terminal… only for it to shake its head ‘no’.
Meshita primed the cylindrical device in her hand. She counted in her head…
*Three Nar Shaddaas… Four Nar Shadaas.
All the way up to Six Nar Shaddaas before tossing the Thermal Imploder at the group of big, clunky battle droids. They were tough, but let’s see how well they handled THIS!
<@414705077484257280>
Jorm saw the poor throw from the corner of his eye and snapped around.
“Oh, koochoo murglak” he cursed and picked up the thermal imploder in his mental grasp, then smacked it firmly against the head of one of the Magnaguards and let it spin away towards the B2s he more felt that heard.
“Anyway, Cass, wrong guy. Try again.”
The other room shook under a reverberating double BOOM and turned into white light.
<@61385159655559168>
This peaked her attention for a moment while they briefly waited. “Who, Tarkin?”
“Closer to the mark. More recent, more tentacles.”
Natsu had her Lightsaber activated and blaster gun drawn and aimed at one of the wall crawling droids. Natsu then fired at the one that was damaged before it could act. The droid droped to the floor no longer a problem. “And another one bites the dust.”
She thought back to anyone who might have had…tentacles…but only recalled an underling of the former corporation that ran Kasiya before Taldryan came that had ai controlled tentacles, but if it wasnt them it obviously wasnt him.
There were no others coming to her mind as the others engaged, the first of the magnaguard falling.
“Obviously you know something that isnt in the records. Who?”
“Masher. Right-hand man of your predecessor’s predecessor. You know, the guy whose death is a big part of my election ads,” Jorm explained.
Cass’ look made him pause for a moment.
“What, considered and discarded him already? Always keep track of the background singers, Cassie!”
“You got elected for killing someone?” Meshira tilted her head. “Sounds very Mandalorian.”
She almost laughed at the mental image of Jorm in beskar spurting lyrical about The Crazy Way or some kark.
Nonetheless, battle came a-calling! Meshita activated her jetpack before anyone could stop her. (More like try to stop her.) She soared towards the two hulking menaces that were the droids that had given her so much grief earlier.
“Take this you stupid pieces of-”
They had watched her enter the room like an insect that needed swatting out of the sky. A smorgasbord of blaster fire erupted from two of the droids.
This was like dodge practice with her aliit. Those were the days…
The first droid was easy to avoid. The others? Not so much. Meshita’s dillydalling had cost her severely. She hadn’t seen the rockets coming. She spun mid-air to try avoid them only for her jetpack to be struck. The explosion in the air must have been spectacular, and if it wasn’t for her beskar, she’d almost certainly be dead.
The Mandalorian hit the ground hard. Everything hurt. A lot. It was then she realised she was… wet? Why was she wet?
Oh.
Blood.
Gaps in her armor had been compromised and she was bleeding out. Circe was not gonna be happy…
She managed to muster enough strength to raise a hand, flipping the droids the middle finger.
“Do… your goddamned worst…”
The Mandalorian woman seemed to not have kept their attention for long as they marched forward towards the group, even shoving their fallen compatriot aside with reckless abandon.
Seeing Meshita go flying and then hearing the crash made Circe shake her head like a mother would do to a child being dumb. Guess her age is showing.
Sighing softly she called up the shadows around her and disappeared from sight. Silently she moved over towards the stairs on her left and went down. There she saw the Mandalorian laying on the ground like splutted fly.
‘Maybe some day she will learn… probably not, knowing Mandalorians.’
Moving closer to her and keeping an eye on the droids she started to check her to find what needed immidiate action to help her stay alive.
Having no luck, Dasha was walking down the hallway to catch up with the group. Meanwhile, she appears to be arguing with the droid at the same time.
Meshita felt like she’d had a night out in Mos Eisley. Well… another night, anyways. She still didn’t know what had happened to the Hutt they were with. There was a trail that led all over the cantina that night, but no body… mysterious…
Her body begged for her to sit her ass back down. It was like thousands of tiny needles were prickling her skin all at once. Her head pounded like it was being banged against a wall, but she fought through the pain and returned to her feet.
“Erm… Circe? Dasha? Natsu? Help?”
<@417336769181122562> <@1087501385978892370> <@77213354619318272>
A bodyless voice could be heard next to her.
“It would be better to not move, unless you want to take on more damage,” Circe said next to her. “They can handle themselves”
She helped her away from direct danger and sat her down behind the consoles as she appeared again before Meshita’s eyes.
“Now be a good child and sit still,” Circe told her with a motherly tone and rested her hands on her shoulders as she started to pour healing energies into the Mandalorian.
“Yes, mommy,” Meshita said without missing a beat.
If she wasn’t concentrating on healing the brad she would have rolled her eyes, but for now she just kept her concentration on healing her enough that she would not bleedout
Dasha had just come around the corner and paused at the scene, her jibber jabbering with the droid stopped as both turned their attention to the battle in front of them.
Natsu quickly moving into position to get a better angle on the big droids. Once she had a clear shot she fired her blaster pistol at the left big Droid. “This is for Meshita!”
Blaster shots rang out, destroying yet another one of the big, ugly scraps of metal.
Hey, what could she say? Droids and Mandalorians do not mix.
“My hero!” Meshita called out to Natsu. “Erm… don’t worry. You’re my hero too, Big Gre- I mean, Circe. Thanks, you know… again.”
Circe narrowed her eyes, as she got up.
“Big what?” slinging her rifle around herself, the nozzle uncomfortably close to Meshita’s belly.
Little did Circe realise that Meshita had her blaster pressed into her hip. They were in a stalemate.
“Two can play at that game,” Meshita said, her tone darkening. “If all it takes to piss you off is a nickname, then it’s a miracle you haven’t broken down yet. We have more important things to do, don’t you think?”
“Maybe if you think before you do, we don’t need to have this conversation,” Circe told her as she moved away and readying her rifle to shoot the droids, only then did she realize how much energy she had already used and grabbed the console instead to stay stable.
The Mandalorian could have let Circe struggle. The prospect was very tempting.
Instead, she grabbed one of Circe’s arms and flung it over her shoulder. Meshita herself was far from one-hundred percent, but at least she could hobble.
“I walk, you shoot. Got it?”
Circe nodded and aimed her rifle at the droid and took aim. With their combined effort she was able to line up a shot and shoot the droid. The shot hit the mark, blasting the droids head to pieces. It then collapsed and toppled over.
“One less problem.”
Electric-blue eyes behind a visor followed the Meshita and Circe carefully. Aphotis’ gaze was judgemental to say the least. Seeing the Mandalorian flying up and then swatted down had been a terrible miscalculation. Despite Meshita’s unwillingness to fall in line and cooperate, Circe was at least showing her discipline. The Sephi seemed resourceful, perhaps a bit too empathic for Tir'eivra’s own liking, but worthy of respect.
“Fine shooting, Circe,” her aristocratic voice praised the Seer, hoping to further inspire competition between the two as the Sith ignored the Mandalorian.
With a thunderous crack, a crimson lash flashed out of Alaisy’s hilt. She raised her arm and flicked the light whip into a loop. With one boot forward she flung it at the magnaguard’s mechanical neck. It coiled, sizzled, and melted the wires and servos until she pulled it back and severed its head. Its body slumped down and crashed before Cassandra’s feet.
“No need to exert yourself Supreme Chancellor,” Alaisy quipped.
“Not a problem, Governor Tir'eivra. You always have everything under perfect control and that is why you are my left hand,” she responded as she stepped forward, saber in hand. As she reignited it, it was aimed downward and inward at a peculiar angle, with her left hand resting on her waist, “Allow me on this one.”
The B2 raised its arms to begin firing, squeaks of binary coming from its vocal system; something about not her turn or something, but before it could even prime itself the…battle…? was already over. Cassandra had shot across the room at a speed none of the others had ever seen her at, rightfully so as she had kept the visibility of her upper-end abilities as a marauder in firm check. The last thing she wanted enemies to know, in this case the untrustworthiness she harbored toward Jorm Na'trej, was the full extent of her strength. But given the difficulties the group was having, it made sense to begin assisting further at this point. As far as most knew, even Anders and Alaisy, she was only within the Equites level of strength. To external forces, just a simple Jedi politician. What she did now, however, was much further beyond. As if at some point the last few months she had broken through a barrier.
To those who were not force sensitive, all they saw was a blur. Two glowing patterns across the front of the B2, one diagonal facing left, one diagonal facing right. For those who could keep up with it, she bolted across the room with the physical haste she had built up until this point, spinning to the left as she approached. Her saber struck down the right side of the B2’s chest to its lower left, her second lightsaber dropping into her left hand as she was beside the droid and shifted her body to the right this time, striking through the left side of it’s chest upward to its right shoulder as she came to a stop directly behind it.
It fell to the ground in four pieces, each of its arms, its lower half at the waist, and its head and shoulders. She disengaged her sabers and started to continue ahead, not bothering to continue the conversation with Jorm as her own focus had shifted. Her demeanor was more to the point, mirroring the times she was in important meetings or facing against other high-level Brotherhood leaders. Even the senate. She was absolutely a Jedi through and through, without even an ounce of celebration or gloating about what had just happened.
“How is Meshita?”
Meshita hobbled in front of Cassandra with Circe in tow. She gave the Supreme Chancellor of the Taldryan Republic a thumbs up.
“Meshita is doing OK. Though, did you answer Jorm-Bot? Who was that Masher guy?”
“He was the chief lieutenant of Taldryan’s predecessor…but not its predecessors predecessor as he claims. He had numerous tentacles that were powered by individual artificial intelligences, making him a deadly adversary.” she responded to Meshita.
Jorm looked at Cassandra without any sign of amusement. She might have tried to hide it, but to someone who lived and breathed motion like a life-long acrobat and menace to traffic, every slight lean, long step, angled joint was a tell - and hers didn’t tell the same story her mouth had in the past. Shame her mind doesn’t work as well as her body, but I guess that’s politics.
“Cassie. Big girl. Your predecessor is Appius, he chided, "and you know what? While you puzzle the rest out, I think it’s more fun to see you run head-first into what I suspect down here. Tally-ho, or whatever the term is!”
“Ha! Tally-ho! I see what you did there! Ow… it hurts to laugh…” Meshita followed after Jorm, still dragging Circe with her.
“When I referenced predecessor, I meant Taldryan’s. If you want to nit-pick in terms of individual leadership, we’d be here all day.” she said as she began moving forward. “And the suspicion, if I read you right, is the same as the worst case scenario in the back of my mind.”
She paused for a moment to give a glance back to Jorm. “…whatever controlled Masher, is still operational at the heart of this place. Cloudhaven’s artificial intelligence core.”
“However unlikely it would have been for it to survive the fallout, it wouldn’t have had long to react after what you did. Most likely failed in several aspects of it, resulting in it taking as long as it has to get to where it is now in terms of capabilities. But the core itself remained intact.”
“Cass, you’re not the personification of Taldryan. You’re just a part. And no, you don’t read me quite right.”
“Then what is it exactly that you suspect?” she said, completely passing off the initial part of what he said. She knew he was trying to get under her skin, and she wasn’t about to allow it. “That Masher himself survived?”
“Ask Vee-Oh-Dee-Oh. I’m sure he can give you an inside perspective.”
Crashing was heard in the background as Alaisy stomped the supposedly inanimate corpses of the magnagaurds, ignoring the conversation
“Uh… guys?” Meshita gestured towards Alaisy. “Don’t think she likes the squabbling.”
“Do not mind me, I am just making sure that everything stays dead. Continue.”
She began glancing around the room curiously. “So, how do we continue from here? We need to keep moving downward.”
“I would be woefully remiss in my observations if I did not point out that neither if us tried cutting our way straight down so far.”
“Can’t we use the consoles to get info? There are enough of them around here.”
Dasha was following behind the group and tried to make no mention that she might’ve… potentially… and a hand in making what Jorm was talking about by going back to arguing with the droid.
Dasha looked about for consoles to access, but this time she would also attempt to use some old logins.
Dasha found a console and managed to access it while squabbling with the droid. To an outsider it sort of appears as of the droid was a rubber duck that could speak just enough to get past enough security measures to get a map of the place.
The squabbling from the pair turned sort of excited exclaimations as Dasha tried to get the group’s attention while holding the droid and downloading what she found onto her datapad.
. From there Dasha hit a few buttons on her datapad to access a few of her own self-made slicing tools to see what else she could access… the droid was squabbling something about the core’s creator being some massively awesome genius while Dasha retorted that she was supposed to be Appius’s favorite slicer.
At first, it may have been difficult to comprehend what the data meant. The console whirred and rattled as if it was having trouble accessing the data at all. Artifacts showed on her datapad, but they were clearly a blueprint of sorts. Access to the turbo lift was denied. Radiation was the main issue. Caverns to the east were mapped out, but an order was given out to reseal them as it presented a security and a heat hazard.
Whether it was intended or not, the console wouldn’t shut down no matter how hard it tried. Someone or something was actively trying to cut its power, its connection, everything.
The Force was with Dasha and her, rather beaten-up companion, as they somehow managed to tap into the live feed and block everything else from being accessed by this entity.
It tried to slip away, attempting to find another method of shutting everything down on this level, yet somehow it couldn’t find its way through the maze.
An audio-motivator activated and began emitting sounds that were very reminiscent of ‘talking’.
“This is the Custodian speaking, would anyone on your level be so kind as to disconnect the line?” The sound that followed could only be interpreted as digital ‘handshaking’ as it was too strange to otherwise describe it. “It is you again isn’t DD-487X?” A distorted and warped grumble was audible. “Double D. dash four eight seven x, initiate protocol Five Four Seven.”
The optics of Dasha’s droid began glowing bright crimson. And its vocal emitter began counting down: “8, 7, 6…10, 13, 77, 4…” It kept repeating random numbers. “Missing data, aborting protocol.”
A frustrated rumble came from the console as the Custodian found a way out.
“Well… that sounded like a bust,” Meshita attempted what she could of a shrug with the green beetle that was Circe still draped across her shoulder. “So… yeah. Why not cut around us and go down? It’ll be fun!”
“Well…” Cassandra interjected, with a disdained voice. “…the issue on that, we may cut into a section that is highly radioactive or even a section that could be missing with lava flows directly below us which will drastically increase the heat levels where we are now. We’ve already been seeing sections damaged or non-existant based on the original schematics compared to its current form. It’s a risk, but, if that is the concensus then we can try it. Worst case, we cut through the wall over there and head eastward more if we do find something deadly below us and we can not proceed.”
She pointed to the far wall opposite where they came in at.
“Group decision.”
Dasha pointed in the direction of the caverns that appear safer.
Something distracted Jorm.
A tickle in his toes. A vibration in the air. Connections in his mind, forming unbidden and hazy… but not too hazy to just waft away.
“Hold still,” he commanded and pulled the Force into himself to channel the energy into his core. With a deep breath he lifted one foot and stomped it down hard, driven by enhanced muscles. The impact was escorted by his mind expanding to touch and feel every surface, every atom in sight and beyond, fusing his honed Marauder senses with the ethereal limb that Telekinesis had become to him.
The result reverberated through his fingernails, bones, even teeth and formed a distorted picture of relaxation, numbness and pain, a skewed three-dimensional map of the vicinity fed back into his body for him to feel and comprehend.
“WHOAH, he exclaimed, "now that’s a different rush!”
Cassandra and Alaisy exchanged a ruffled look and turned back to Jorm. “What did you just do,” Cassandra inquired with an edge in her voice, probably not too enamored with Jorm’s projection throughout everything including herself.
“Resonance check to map out this wreck,” the Kiffar replied an lifted his mask to spit out bloodied saliva. He gave one of his teeth a wiggle and replaced the mask, thinking go fix yourself at the loose one.
“Good news is, no lava below us, -ish,” he shared his impression and got out his Inquisitorious-issued scanner, “there’s definitely something hot and liquid down and south-a-ways though.”
The device snapped open in his hand and switched to thermal mode at the push of a button, displaying what it saw in reds, yellows, oranges and whites. Jorm waved it around to calibrate the readouts and pointed it straight down, then looked around through it.
“Well it sure is hot but so am I,” he concluded, “my guess it’s heated up by the lava close by. No space below us either, though,” he added almost as an afterthought.
“Eh, you’re a six-out-of-ten at best,” Meshita scoffed, placing her one spare hand on her hip for balance.
“OK, so… we came here to investigate whats going on. We have some idea. What the hell are we doing with this place? Why not just blow it the frakk up and be done with it? It seems to be causing a whole lot of problems for people, including us right now!”
There was a bit of snappiness to Meshita’s voice as she spoke.
There was a long drawn out sigh in the form of a hiss from the Shiny Sith
“Let me become an eight,” Jorm rebuked the Mandalorian and folded a few pieces of his Chromium wrap over his mask to form a T-shaped visor, “and when we get out of here I’ll gladly crank it to eleven and show you my rocket pack.”
Meshita snorted, then pretended to gag into her helmet. “You know what? Just for that… four, and thats being generous.”
Circe looked back and forth between them and sighed softly. Feeling steady enough she stood up on herself and let go of Meshita.
“If you kids want to kibble, go ahead, but my ears heard enough.”
She took a few steps towards Dasha and waited to see if the fellow Sephi found more maps that could help.
“So… where to now, boss?” Meshita asked Alaisy. <@188018248241905664>
“East, can you make it further?”
“I’m sure we can but Meshita and Circe will need a breather.”
Meshita grinned under her helmet. “I can keep going! Onward!”
She started moving… West… then spun around and began walking in the right direction.
“It’s… um…. this way.”
Alaisy turned around sharply, her tail flowing in a smooth motion. She headed east with Meshita, electric-blue eyes critical of her ability to function. They soon found themselves in an octagonal room. In its center stood a holoprojector that switched off upon their arrival. A large metal door stood in the way of them in the south. The door wasn’t in the best condition, its console buzzing and crackling.
“Wanna take a swing at it?” Meshita gestured with her hands like she was holding a lightsaber in them.
“Please, move aside.” Aphotis cracked her knuckles as her eyes scanned for the point of least resistance. Her claws extended in a feral manner as she took on an animalistic Teras Kasi stance. With a drawn-out hiss, she raised her leg and planted her weighted platform right between the seams of the door. With a loud clang the door burst open, breaking apart at its weakened hinges.
A cloud of dust rose up as the metal pieces crashed onto the duracrete.
There was a whirring of mechanical servos and a buzzing and crackling of something activating. Two droids emerged and began sprinting away in alarm.
Meshita’s arms drooped at her side, her head hanging slightly. Her mouth was agape beneath her helmet, not that anyone could tell.
“OK, that was impressive,” She said, walking into the room slowly. “So… what we got here?”
Not about to stay back and explore boredom, Jorm leaned around the corner to face the droids he had seismolocated before. Forming his hand into a claw he grabbed the further one and pulled it backward in a way that intentionally crashed into its carbon steel copy and dragged both of them back to the group.
The magnaguard was twirled around as it got pulled into its buddy, zapping it with their electrostaff as they were brought back to the group of Taldryanites.
Natsu quickly moved to stand beside Meshita and aimed her blaster at the damaged magnaguard and fired. “One down”
Meanwhile, Dasha was keeping track of their location on the map she obtained and appears to be pondering if this is the best route. The partially broken droid tucked under an arm as it if was a teddy bear.
Meshita unleashed her second, and final arsenal of whistling birds. They sang through the air, hence their namesake, before sla-
The droid avoided it, and if the Mandalorian didn’t know any better, she’d say the droid was giving her evil glares. Even so, it couldn’t avoid every shot. A couple made impact, knocking the droid on its rear.
“Ha!” Meshita exclaimed… until the droid rose to its feet.
“Oh, you gotta be kidding me!”
She charged towards it as fast as she could muster.
Jorm drew, pointed, and fired the artillery piece he insisted was a sidearm in one fluid motion.
With a a cough as quiet as it was violent the bucking pistol disgorged a bullet as thick as a small finger and sent it downrange, sirring by Meshita’s ear, and disappearing into the magnaguard’s chest in a shower of sparks.
In a fraction of a second it tore a jagged way through the droid’s innards and exited through the machine’s back in a shower of fiery debris.
“Hey!” Meshita called out, placing her hands on her hips..“I had that!”
The group had managed to prevent the two droids from getting away and gathering who knows how many reinforcements. Aside from Meshita’s yapping, it was deadly quiet and increasingly hot.
The room they found themselves in was ravaged by the heat. Duracrete crumbled and walls seemed brittle. Lights flickered on and off and a passage to the south was sealed by debris. If one were to squint their eyes they could see a fiery amber through the doorpost to the east.
Aphotis’ boot cracked and crunched the broken floortiles further into dust. A mild tremor rumbled through the facility. “Mind your step and simmer down on the explosives, lest the ceiling collapse onto us.”
Jorm leaned his head to one side as if listening to something distant and checked his scanner, then let out a burst of laughter.
“On the contrary, get ‘em ready. Something’s waiting for us; I can’t be the only one who senses it. Hell, my scanner senses it,” he contradicted Alaisy and showed the display to the group.
Meshita wasn’t stupid, contrary to her behaviour. She saw the reading on Jorm’s scanner and concluded.
“Yeah… I’m with Jorm-bot on this one. We should get our explosives ready to blow this place to kingdom come.”
“Wait…” Meshita gestured for everyone to stay silent and still..“can anyone else hear that chattering?”
The results spoke for themselves. “Fine, just try to keep the path forward clear and keep it to scorched earth tactics behind us.”
The Sith began to click, clack forward. “Wait, do they move, or are they docile?” She halted in her step and held a finger over her Repulsor Belt.
Jorm raised his eyebrow.
“I seismosensed this place, remember? Next room is full of lava. Scorched Earth ahead, Longshanks.”
“For all we know your stomping closed our path to the south shut, I meant throwing or setting the explosives to blow behind us so we can keep moving forward.” Her repulsor activated, levitating her tall frame just above ground. It felt a bit unintuitive at first, but it was quiet.
Jorm shrugged and walked past Alaisy into the cavern.
Whatever happens, happens.
…but it would benefit from a soundtrack.
“I tried, tried tried, and I tried even more, I cried, cried, cried, and I can’t recall what for!”
From behind, he heard Meshita pick up on his performance and start to slap and rap on her armor, weaving a percussive melody into his vocals.
“I pressed, I pushed, I’ve yelled, I begged in hopes of some success, But the inevitable fact is that it never will impreeeesss!”
He set foot on the bridge and spread his arms wide for the chorus.
“I’ve no more Frakks to give…”
Between the voice work and performance, there was confused skittering. Webs trembled, eggs were snatched from the shadows, and younglings were rounded up in the great panic. Krykna from every burrow took their vulnerable and valuable and disappeared, hiding in the deepest depths until the monsters passed.
Alaisy followed, floating behind Jorm and Meshita. Flattened eyebrows, tail lowered, she wasn’t sure what to make of this. But somehow, whatever lurked, kept lurking, and they weren’t interested in them.
The hallway they wormed their way into was cooler, with no signs of life further down south. The brittle doors were pushed away with little effect, or crumbled on the spot.
The Governor turned her Repulsor Belt off, pleased to be touching the ground again. The party followed Dasha’s map directions as they made their way around the corner.
Heat began to emanate from the river of fire, like before. Except this time there was no convenient bridge.
Meshita ran with all the speed she could, which, whilst injured and with taped up armor, was not a whole lot, did her best impression of a mynock in space and attempted to jump the chasm. She got absolutely nowhere and was about to fall into the lava river below…
<@188018248241905664>
A hiss expelled from her facemask as Aphotis witnessed Meshita’s pitiful attempt to impersonate a mynock’s mating ritual. “Mediocre.” She willed the Force around her claw as she extended it towards the Mandalorian and created a powerful wave of energy that propelled the beskar-clad woman forward.
For a certain Kiffar who jumped off kilometre-high buildings both for fun and as a means of fast transportation, the cataclysmic chasm wasn’t that exciting. A bit of focus, a small hop, and he was over, casually glancing down.
Circe walked up towards the edge and made a hop over the gap with the help of her jetboots. She wasn’t going to expend more of her Force powers if it wasn’t needed
Meshita crashed head-first into a pile of rocks, concussing her. She remained prone for a few seconds before stirring.
“Ow…” she groaned.
“Meshita could you move aside for a moment? I need Circe to tie this rope to it.” There was a hint of amusement in Alaisy’s modulated voice. She rummaged through her envoy kit after unclipping it from her high waisted belt.
“Circe, catch!”
<@417336769181122562>
Incoherent mumbling was heard.
“Move!”
Meshita rolled over.
“Good girl.”
She gave Alaisy the middle finger.
A smile formed in Alaisy’s eyes as she knelt down. Claws knotted the fibrecord neatly around the edge of still intact duracrete, giving it a pull after to make sure it was secure on her side.
With a short burst, her platforms burst open from the bottom as they propelled the tall Sith over to the other side. With a screeching slide, her knife-heels sparked and brought her to a graceful halt.
The rest of the party followed either with their own tools, the Force, the tied rope or some other ‘showy’ way.
With a little snap and clicking the tall Sith slid her gloved hand over her suit. A large octagonal room stood in front of them. Electricity sparked off of two massive runestones. A glowing tendril-like conduit flickered in its middle.
A tremor shook the place they were in. More blocks of the bridge crumbled down into the lava flow. There was no way north, or south, or east for that matter.
But the middle appeared to be shaped like a sort of platform, not the shoe kind either. More of a turbolift.
Natsu moved over to the edge and hopped to the other side taking a look around and noticed spider webs. “Huh so friendly spiders trying to make a bridge for us?”
“I prefer friendly spiders since we are at war with the droids of this place. However if they are not friendly then I will have a problem. ”
Meshita hobbled to her feet, head pounding, knees weak, palms sweaty, mom’s spaghetti.
Wait, where was she again?
Oh, right. Cloudhaven.
“Hello?” She called out for anyone that would listen.
Dasha tried to look onto it but the droid was still squawking at her and fidgiting as if it was dancing each time the Sephi tried to inspect the shiney causing her to squabble back at the droid.
“We better all get onto the platform and stay within it’s lines. Also there is a pattern in the sparks from the runestones, maybe that could mean something?” she told the others as she stepped carefully closer towards the runes, making sure not getting zapped.
Since times untold, sentient species had always found it to be true: if you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back. This truth was once more revealed to Jorm when he opened his mind to feel the place out.
“Hello darkness, my old friend…” the Kiffar started another song when the supernatural echoes became a bit too familiar, “I’ve come to twist your balls again…”
He stepped onto the platform and pointed towards the shining objevt above.
“Somebody mind hitting that with lightning?”
Natsu moved to join Jorm on the platform and looked at the thing he was pointing at. “Everyone on the platform now! Meshita get over here!” “Once I hit that with Lightning this platform will activate!”
“Jorm? Do you sense a dark force energy from that thing or is it just me?” Natsu asked while preparing the Force Lightning.
“Mind you the only reason I feel it is because I’m looking right at it.”
“Meshita? Move your Beskar rear over here!” <@837236610684813342>
“What my rear is made of is no business of yours!” Meshita, skulking, made her way over to the platform and joined the rest of the team.
“Go for it.”
“Can’t say for sure, but I feel something familiar. In the context of Cloudhaven that can only mean something or someone I killed, maimed, burned or blew up.”
“Why not all of the above?” Meshita shrugged.
Nutsu having prepared the Force Lightning with everyone on the platform unleashed it at the shiny thing above there heads whatever it was. Just as predicted when the Lightning hit the thing the platform activated and started to take them down.
The electricity trickled into the ‘shiny thing’. Cerulean light transformed into crimson as it jutted out from the weird shimmering object and siphoned toward the large runestones. Sand and crushed duracrete rose up in a dust cloud as the platform began to spur into action. In corners of the octagonal room, amber lights began to pulsate.
With whirring gears, the party was taken down. Down. Further down. It accelerated faster and faster. At first, it became hotter and darker. Then it cooled down as if all of what they were being held back by before was a ruse.
With screeching gears the turbolift came to a halt, just comfortable enough to not feel like being pressed into the floor. One by one blueish lights snapped on. The place was cold, freezing even. There was a low hum of energy and a quartet of holocams were aimed at the party.
Meshita hobbled out first, nearly…
“goddammit…” collapsing as she did so. She staggered, her knees moved at unnatural angles for walking. She was not in a good headspace, which was only eccentuated further when she grabbed one of her blasters and gripped it tightly in her hand, finger over the trigger like it was a shiny red button she wanted to desperately press.
Circe gently laid a hand on Meshita’s shoulder.
“Calm yourself, it won’t get any easier if you push yourself too far. I can’t help you like last time.” Circe warned her.
“I already miss the darkness, however, the cold is pleasant.” The Sith peered at the, not so subtle, holocams.
A golden orange light lit at the middle, a figure suspended in it held up by various cords and tubes. Through the tubes were red, blue, and grey liquids.
Jorm, among the bunch there, would be the only one to recognize who it was.
<@414705077484257280>
A raspy automated voice spoke out, two red colored eyes glaring at one individual in particular.
“….Jor-m…Na-Tre-Jh…”
“To…think-that…you…would-be-the one…to…come…”
“OK. I know I hit my head pretty hard…” meshits slapped the side of her helmet. “But is there a dude in there trying to talk to you, Jorm?”
“Babe, you should know I’m always coming, usually buckets,” Jorm replied in a sultry voice and stepped forward with a sway in his hips, reviving a conversation years past, “but I can’t really blame you. I blew your mind, after all.”
To underscore his words he sensually stroked the grip of his Enforcer.
“I see dying unlocked a few new kinks in you, you tied yourself up for me! You don’t mind if we all have a go, do you?”
The figure in the tank couldn’t help but let out a chuckle before the lines going to him began to glow, the red liquid ones now clearly showing a bubbling liquid…being drawn from him as he lets out a cry of agony. The lights in the liquid below began to glow as a panel started to lower from the ceiling.
On it, was a massive armored R2 unit mounted in what appeared to be a mech suit. It stood even taller than Cassandra, and had what looked like a high-caliber rail-gun like sniper rifle mounted to its right arm, and a mechanical armored fist on its left. A large repeating blaster cannon raised up over its shoulder from behind and locked itself on the shoulder, before a green shimmer enshrouded the droid.
“…be-my…guest…and…get-us…out-of-here…”
“Yeah, about that. Lemme think,” Jorm retorted and rubbed the bridge of his nose in concentration.
“You know what? If you squint hard enough at it, there’s a bright idea here,” he quipped and looked back over his shoulder just as a snap of his fingers unleashed a vicious blast of searing white light before him.
As the cameras turned away from him he grabed one of the Ion Grenades he’d packed as soon as the briefing had mentioned droids and pressed down the primer, but the unfamiliar explosive slid from his hand.
“Schutta,” Jorm cursed and tried to catch it, but only managed to knock it away and into the databank-infested fluid below.
A buzzing spread from a small area to almost the entire glowing fluid. Two large cubic generators turn off, lights turning crimson.
click click click
A red dot from the monstrous R2 unit’s rifle moves toward the party.
The Kiffar did not wait for the droid to do more than pointing, instead he took both a deep breath and a running head dive into the coolant. Under the influence of Jorm’s will, the fluid actually stretched out a tendril to embrace him, and carried him forward in a mind-made squall toward the closest blocky of data-banks.
Jorm’s lightsaber sprung to life, waterproofed and equipped with a bifurcating emitter, a piece of captive sun unhindered by pesky liquids, and he shoved it gratiuitously into the closest among the blocks while aiming for cables and trying to breach watertight compartments.
His efforts were rewarded with the beauty of smokey bubbles rising to the surface and previously unseen laser-links cutting out, which in turn allowed him to dive even closer to the central pillar, and almost under the droid.
Aphotis unclipped her lightwhip and began taking down the various holocams spread around the elevator and further around the northeastern corner of the cerulean room. Her repulsorbelt activated as the durasteel grating became bothersome to walk on.
Meanwhile, Meshits Meshita did what she did absolutely best.
Cause unwanted carnage and make the situation worse.
She tossed a grenade over to the droid yelling;
“Bombs away!”
However, she didn’t get the memo about the droids shields. The grenade bounced off of it and sprayed foamy glue everywhere except at the intended target, which alerted it to their presence.
“Oh, son of a…”
Circe was so distracted by the foolish action of Meshita that she failed to pull the shadows around her to disappear from sight. Muttering she did the next best thing and pressed herself against the wall next to the door, holding her rifle ready to shot.
The giant R2 droid’s weapon built up power with a low-hum and buzzing. With a whomp the beam snapped right at Meshita. Its shield flickered off as the kaleidoscope of colors blasted out of its gun.
Systems immediately initiated all over the room, recharging both the shield and railgun.
“Aa-rghhh!!” the figure in the tube cried out, in even far more excrutiating pain at this point, the orange liquid surrounding him and that which flowed through the pipes glowing ever slightly.
The beam came towards the Mandalorian at a speed that even if she was fresh, she had no hope in hell of avoiding.
In a flicker, she knew what was coming.
If she was going to go down, she would go down like the Mandalorian she was. Circe was behind her. No way in hell was that blast hitting her. She had a job to do, and she’d see it through to her last breath.
This is the way.
The railgun shot struck her in a gap between her helmet and chestplate, shredding her throat.
‘Manda… I’ll see you soon…’
With that final thought, Meshita’s body dropped to the floor, blood seeping, as life left her for the final time.
The deadly beam of light certainly caught Aphotis’ attention. A sigh of relief came over her as it went by her. Yet her heart began to pound in her chest as she realized it zapped towards the turbo-lift entrance. She turned on her heel and peered into the hallway. A puff of smoke came from the Mandalorian.
Did Meshita run out of lives?
The thought of coming back with casualties not caused by her own claws was a disappointing one.
Meanwhile, in the Supreme Chancellor’s office…
So far, the situation had played out exactly as expected. Karufr was under attack, absolutely. Cloudhaven was fighting back, and the team led by the newest Kasiyan Governor had infiltrated the source. Anders waited patiently, staring out of the long window into the horizon. At least Draca had decided to keep him company, despite the monotony of the tasks Anders was completing right…
His eyes widened, a cold chill descending down his spine. Draca’s head snapped towards the window too.
“Anders…”
“I felt it too,” Anders sighed. “A pity. She was a rather decent pilot.”
He took particular notice of the young man’s distress. “Are you alright?”
Draca swallowed the lump in his throat, then gave a firm nod. “Yeah… yeah… I’m OK. She’s one with the Force now.”
An unconvincing statement if Anders had ever heard one.
It didn’t stop his hearts from hurting, and as much as Anders might refuse to show it, his hurt too.
Meshita had, of course, helped him get Draca back.
A memorial to her achievements would be erected. Yes, that seemed appropriate.
A cooling anger toiled within Anders. Somebody was going to pay for this. He wanted answers, and he knew how to get them…
Circe let out a high pitched scream as if a mother lost her child when Meshita went down. She then snapped her towards the droid and lined up her rifle and shot. The shot was true, just before the shield got up fully and the railgun was fully charged, it hit the barrel causing it to explode. The shock shook the droid as it tried to remain balanced.
It wasn’t enough for the Sephi. She raised her hand towards it, grabbing the droid in an invisible hold and started to toss it around the room, letting it hit every corner it had, scolding it for it had done and what not. Running out of basic curses she went over to other languages until there was nothing left to say. The droid had gotten badly damaged by the time she was done with it, so did the walls of the room.
She dropped the droid as her anger and hatred to the droid had dropped and went over to Meshita’s body and knelt down next to her, panting heavily.
“That was for you,” she said softly.
The Governor stood still in awe at Circe’s blind rage. A warmth of admiration filled her cold heart as she witnessed that perfect shot. Aphotis could feel the hate emanating from her, seeping from the dark side. The absolute mayhem that ensued was music to her ears.
A textbook sacrifice, how wonderful…
She rubbed her nails together, durasteel scraping durasteel, as if spinning a web.
“Well, done, Circe.” A smile formed in the Sith’s eyes behind her visor.
Circe looked up towards Alaisy wondering if she heard it right, that she got a compliment from the Sith. When she saw the smiling eyes from behind the visor she knew it was true and she gave her a simple nod in acknowledgement.
Meanwhile, Dasha’s ears were drooping as she struggled to do anything remotely useful in combat with the protective clothing on.
She looked about for terminals or anything…
Aphotis sprinted west over the ramp and pulled out her Maxalan Smart Pistol. The laser guidance system locked onto two of the data storage systems. With a gentle squeeze of the trigger, it fired out high explosive-filled pellets.
The pellets popped just above the fluid as superheated micro-flechettes burst out, seeping down into the metal with bubbles and hisses. With subdued thumps they violently exploded, cracking open the metal with relative ease. Crimson lights flashed until even those went off, shutting two major arteries down.
The tall Sith checked her handiwork, giving the weapon a nod of approval.
I should have gotten myself one of these ages ago.
The R2 droid’s shield was flickering on and off, trying to stabilize. Only a perfectly calibrated strike could get through.
It was getting back up and as it picked its target, Circe, the large Gatling began spinning up.
The pinpoint underwater explosions just a few feet away hammered Jorm’s equally submerged eardrums with unnerving yet recognizeable intensity.
Hutts take you, Alaisy, he thought to himself as he looked around concerned for more incoming ordinance and spotted the descending rods instead, if you wanted to go detonite fishing you could’ve just asked!
He pulled his legs close to push himself upwards and out of the water, but his toes slipped from the edge of the destroyed datablock and his painfully impacting shins just didn’t have the propelling effect - or any propelling effect at all, for that matter.
Crap.
Jorm didn’t wait for the rods to do whatever they were supposed to do but once more bent the water to his will, launching himself up on a pillar of liquid that he dispersed just as quickly as it got him fast enough, and finished his arc with a roll on the platform that incidentally placed him in partial cover from the droid behind Smasher’s tank.
“THANKS FOR NOTHING, SHANK SKANK,” he roared out in Alaisy’s vague direction, “I’M HAPPY TO BANG WITHOUT EXTRA ARTILLERY, Y'KNOW?!”
As the barrel spun, a cadre of blaster bolts spilled out towards Circe. Most of them aimed just at her feet, climbing up as she sprinted towards the east. Circe’s nimble feet silently managed to avoid the spread of destruction. A plume of smoke emanated from the shoulder-mounted weapon as it halted before hitting the reactor behind the Sephi. <@417336769181122562>
As she stopped evading a rain of bullets being shot at her a grin appeared onto Circe’s face, twisted in hatred for the droid that was shooting at her. Apparently it was smart enough not to shoot the barrel behind her, but that gave her the opportunity to attack it back.
“Take this, you piece of thinking sand!” Circe yelled and unleashed a current of electricity at the droid, hitting it between the flickers of the shield that was still trying to protect it’s user. Smoke started to rise from the body as circuits were frying under her onslaught.
After the bolt to the barrel, the rampage Circe gave it when it tossed the droid around like a ragdoll and finally the massive and perfectly timed electric short-circuiting… it finally gave out.
Smoke and jolts of electricity came out of its chassis as it toppled over.
As the droid fell, and with half of the terminals taken out, the figure inside the tank began to stretch itself as several other terminals went up suddenly with no explanation.
The tube’s shielding visibly collapsed not just outside, but…inside?…before it finally began to crack and shatter.
The robotic remains and what parts of human flesh of the creature known as Smasher fell to the metal walkway below, gasping and breathing heavily.
“So quiet….silence…the voices finally gone from my mind…” his voice modulator spoke. “They havent been silent in nearly three decades…”
He turned his head and his body slightly as he faced Jorm. “Can’t believe I would say this but…thank you. I owe you one.”
<@414705077484257280>
“I’ll mark it up,” Jorm shrugged the thanks off.
“Cassy, it’s your dirtball - wanna keep him around for a chat or…”
He raised his lightsaber suggestively without ever taking his eyes off Masher.
Masher’s head shot up as well as alarms began going off and the area began to shake. A computer voice came across comms in the room.
“WARNING - SEPARATION SEQUENCE OF ENGINEERING SECTION INITIATED.”
Slowly he forced his way to his feet, looking at Cassandra. “I’m no threat to you at this point, and I can explain more after we get out of here.”
She considered for a second, giving a glance to Jorm.
“Fine. But if you try anything at all, you’ll be his personal trophy.” she responded as she pulled out her datapad and checked the map they had.
They would need to ascend nearly seventy levels somehow.
And already the coolant in the room began to steam as magma entered the room from the vents on the walls.
“Central shaft. Now.”
The steam was rather unpleasant, leaving the tall Sith little option than to just get out of the main chamber.
“I do hope the thing still works, if not, zap it with electricity, as we did before.”
Circe nodded and grabbed the body of Meshita, she would get a better burial then being left behind here in the rubble and lava, and walked with her towards the elevator platform.
The droid was saying something about Meshita, but hasn’t read that Dasha was no longer in the mood for schenanigans so she slapped the droid with her free hand like a technician would to their terminal when their system acts up when it shouldnt.
Sirens blared and crimson lights pulsed. Everyone had reached the turbo-lift platform in time. The sound of clanging metal, the buzzing of electricity, and crackles and pops were foreboding.
The Governor nodded one more time at Natsu, who eagerly let loose a bolt of lightning at one pillar, channeling all of her vices. Aphotis concentrated her hatred on the other pillar. A coagulation of energy coiled together in the middle and activated the gears.
Jorm’s aura darkened as he kept a close eye on Masher. The pit droid seemed to be keeping a safe distance from Dasha’s dangerous hand. Circe stayed close to Meshita’s body and away from the volatile amalgamation in the middle. In the meanwhile, Cassandra kept the rest of the squad up to date, announcing the floors they passed in the form of a countdown.
A tremor shook the platform and the entire facility surrounding them, followed by a fading echo of computer voices.
The lift started to slow down…
When both Aphotis and Natsu saw the faint crimson glow of the lava caverns they gave each other a look before giving the runic stones another strong jolt of dark side power.
The turbo-lift responded by speeding up again, going right past the floor, as far up as it could go.