Rendili

[Dangerous Wave's Corporation]

As the shots had rung out ahead of them the Corellian's having no shot at the sniper due to buildings just stayed out of the way. They were all relatively sure that the Thruvarans in tin cans could handle a sniper problem. However Darren was not amused by the situation and would much prefer to be on foot making their own, silent way through the city rather then letting the brutes in suits bulldoze the way for them.

But speed was of more importance then stealth at the moment and so he was resigned to trust their forward guard, leaving Rex to continue listening for updates on the other team, Nik to drive and the rest of them to ensure nothing nasty popped up from the sides or the rear.

"Not a very smart sniper" Khai remarked as they caught site of the smoking ruins in passing. "Shooting at the tin cans instead of the sitting duck's behind them" she continued, her tone making it clear she wasn't keen on this current plan either.

"Yeah well, keep it down would you, the next one might be smarter" Darren replied. "Kriffing well hope so" Bells muttered "The Thruvarans are having all the fun." Darren merely rolled his eyes.

"All of you shut-up!..don't make me turn this hovercar around!" Nik threatened, which made them all inwardly groan at the lame joke. Nik..despite what he thought just wasn't a very funny guy.

"Shouldn't be much farther" Rex piped up after a bit of silence "If they're moving at a decent clip they should be in one of hte next buildings.." He finished.

[Erika Freeborn]

Finding cover as per Taaru's instructions Erika keeps a tight eye on the hole they justw alked through. Slashing her saber as another warmonger does its best to make it through the hole she glances in the direction of the crunching metal sound. Her eyes catch the two dumpsters flying towards the hole and she quickly gets out of the way before they crash together blocking any future passage through the wall.

"Let's see you do that without your fancy suit." She says to Taaru with a smirk on her face before turning to continue through the holes. Though her smirk is short lived as she runs along with Vidown, her arm holding tightly to her side as the pain from the wounds she had absorbed from Telera once again runs through her body. You did this to yourself, Erika thought as she ducked through another hole. Yes, she had done it to herself, but the worse was yet to come. Jet would be furious with her for doing such a reckless move to save Telera. She would most certainly recieve a tongue lashing over this. Shaking her head she refocused on the present, she would worry about Jet when the time came. First and most important was getting off this damn planet alive.

[Taaru Masako]

Having stowed his weapons, Masako is free to vault the few display cases in his way as he makes a beeline across the first store, keeping a careful eye on those behind him and watching their six in general. From up ahead he can here the sound of insulation, siding, ferrocrete bricks and other wall components being rended and blown out by Aaron's manipulations. The dust and debris is in the process of settling as he clambers through the first hole, catching up with Erika.

He notices her clutching her side, hand sticky and red with drying blood, and sets a supportive hand on her shoulder, but with an ulterior aim of keeping her moving forward.

"I've got some biofoam for that, but we have to get to some place a bit more quiet before I can apply it. Can you manage it that far?"

A crackle in his ear, then a familiar, if distorted voice: <<Masako, Arlanc here. Approaching your location from the southwest up Victory Blvd. Need update on current position.>>

Masako taps his collar mic: <<Moving through storefronts on the east side of Hyperion. Recommend you find an ambush position where Victory & Hyperion intersect. You may be bringing company to dinner.>>

<<Will take it under advisement. ValCAT reports finding the missing freighter crew, will rendezvous for extraction as soon as we find a suitable LZ.>>

Masako's fingers move to double click his collar mic in an affirmative, but looks again at Erika and amends this.

<<Make it a dustoff. We have wounded. Let our bird know.>>

<<Copy, Masako. Meet you at Hyperion & Victory.>>

[Dangerous Wave's Corporation]

"Update from the Thruvarans and the ValCAT" Rex informed Darren "They've found our missing freighter team and are coordinating a pick-up as soon as we secure the away team with their wounded, plan is to meet at the intersection of Hyperion and Victory"

"'meet' huh? is that meet as in load up and leave with no fuss, or 'meet' as in bloody firefight as Hyperion corral?" Bells asked with a hint of longing in her voice.

"Theres wounded...I'm guessing they are hoping for the first option" Darren responded "but..."

"...Check your weapons and be prepared for option two" Nik interrupted and finished in droll tone "We know boss" He concluded with a look over his shoulder.

"Shut-up and watch where your driving. The Thruvarans will be pissy if you run off course and I won't stick up for you" Darren retorted before pointing at the road.

"Whatever" Nik responded but he turned his eyes back to the road while Darren and Rex studied a datapad for a few minutes before Darren nodded and keyed the channel to the Thruvarans.

"Map shows the intersection to be just large enough for a pick-up but the ships going to call some attention on the way in, the buildings are tall and close enough to provide cover on the north and west side but the east and south will be open and will probably cause us the most grief. Especially if they're following our people using the roads which seems likely. Unless you want to take a couple buildings out we'll need two teams at the very least."

[Erika Freeborn]

Erika glanced up at Taaru as they continued forward. He of all people should understand that it wasn't the wounds that were slowing her down. It was extremely draining on her to absorb anothers injuries like she had done. And now was certainly not the time to point that out...he would know even if she didn't voice that. She waved her hand absently. "It's fine Taaru. Let's worry about it once we get off this damn planet."

The sooner she got to sit down and rest the sooner she would feel better. Of course that meant that she would also have to endure a thorough tongue lashing from Jet and a possible trip to the medical labs. Oh gods, she hated spending any time in any med labs. Pulling her shoulder free of Taaru's grasp she pushed forward, though she did appreciate his concern for her health. "Come on, Aaron's getting ahead of us. And I don't know about you, but I don't feel like waiting around here to see if those beasts make it through."

[The Thruvarans]

Darren's comm clicks with static, before resolving into a response from Laszlo. Looking out the passenger side windows, Darren sees one of the suits break formation and hover back towards the truck to repulsor skate alongside it.

"Understood. We'll set up two positions with overlapping fields of fire and snipers in the rear. Suggest you take the southern alignment and use the hovertruck as a barricade. We'll manage the eastern vantage with whatever we can find. And have your comm specialist stay in touch with the ValCAT and keep it up to date. If we see any heavy anti-air, we'll have to scrub the dust-off."

The comm kicks off, just as the group of power armors and the hovertruck reach the intersection of Victory and Hyperion. Laszlo's attention seems to focus up ahead, just as the sounds of gauss rifle fire and muzzle flashes catch his attention.

He speeds up, catching up with his squad and switching comm channels.

<<Report.>>

<<Great Void....what are these things?>>
<<Dunno, but check at these chompers.>>

<<Report!>>

<<Sorry, sir>> Marek returns, <<two contacts on our side of the intersection, both tangos down.>>

<<Any others?>>

<<Doesn't look like it. You better get up here and check this out.>>

Konrad reaches the edge of the intersection, his squad hunkered down by available cover or staring at the mess Marek and Lukas had made.

He finds the twins crouched over their "tangos": Large, reptilian bipeds the likes of which Laszlo had never scene. Marek was currently busy gingerly poking at one of the fallen lizard's free mandibles with his combat knife while Lukas was checking out the surrounding area through his vision filters.

<<What do you reckon, Sarge? Ever seen a face this beautiful before?>> Marek asks, tapping his kill's skull with the flat of his blade before sheathing it in its chest holster.

<<What happened?>>

Lukas answers for both of them: <<It looked like these two were heading in the same direction we were. Marek and I were on point and they noticed us....charged immediately with those.>>

He indicates the lizards' weapons....alien and seemingly impractical handheld plasma repeaters.

<<Burned a whole through my shield, but the I-field handled it well enough. Gauss rifles did the rest. They took more shots than I'd expect a living thing to, though.>>

Laszlo nods, noticing the smoking barrels on both the twins' weapons.

He contemplates this new development briefly, then speaks.

<<This doesn't change much in the end. We're designating this intersection as the El Zed. We're aligning east, the mercs are on the southern boulevard. Sofie and Konrad, get some of these speeders arrayed across the road as a barricade. Marek and Lukas, cover them. Aleska, Mischy and Oliver, you're on perimeter; secure it. Jorunn and Till, get the AM rifle set up on this side of the intersection. We're bunkering down until the away team makes their way to us. They'll be here soon with a mess of hurt behind them, so let's make sure we got the red carpet rolled out.>>

Affirmatives across the board, and a bustle of clanking armored boots as his orders are seamlessly obeyed.

[Taaru Masako]

He nods carefully at Erika's refusal, aware that she is more annoyed than injured, and that this attitude was indicative that she was in better shape than she looked. Nevertheless, he stayed at her side as the group moved through the final storefronts.

Those ahead of them had already cleared away most of the merchandise, having toppled over racks of clothes and shelving units full of housewares, souvenirs and other products that seemed weirdly out of place in a warzone. Everything in these shops had been left largely untouched until they arrived, but Taaru knew that elsewhere in the city, the looting was widespread.

He'd seen dying worlds before, had been on too many losing sides in his 60 odd years. After a while, it started feeling like just another routine.

He shakes himself out of his reverie: Down that path lies only darkness.

He taps his collar mic.

<<I can see light. Looks like the we're coming out at the intersection now. Hold your fire until you can identify.>>

<<Copy, we see you now. Make your way straight down the center and we'll cover you.>>

Masako double clicks his collar mic and draws one of his holstered blasters, jogging ahead of Erika to stack up next to the last blown out wall, the dust still settling, just as Miko & Jethro bound through it.

His attention turns quickly back behind Erika. The sound of heavy footfalls and debris being scattered down the long tunnel Aaron has meticulously carved through this bloc of buildings.

Erika reaches him and makes her way through the hole as Taaru aims his blaster down the tunnel and fires on automatic. A grunt sounds, and his attack is met with a retort of plasma bolts that ignite the cheap wallboard beside him.

Certain now that they are being followed by the warmongers, he turns toward the exit, 10 paces from Erika now, keying his collar comm again.

<<Be advised, we have tangos on our si-->

Something large and heavy sideswipes him across the room, his body making a crater in the wallboard on the opposite wall before collapsing onto the ground.

He blacks out.

[Dangerous Wave's Corporation]

Darren nodded slightly to the Thruvaran although he was already off attending to his own people, glancing at his team he shrugged "Its a good plan". That was all they needed and before he could shoo them off the Corellian Mercs were hustling about setting up shop on the Southern vantage point. Nik, with Bells help managed to scavenge a few more vehicles to array across the road and provide some extra cover - which was fortunate since no sooner had they hunkered down to keep watch then fleeting figures began to make an appearance down the road.

"Sir?" Bells questioned as one of the figures made a brief appearance. "Hold..they might just be civilians" Darren answered while simultaneous training his rifle scope on one of the shadows "Scratch that... definitely NOT civilians.." He corrected after getting a good look at the things, Nik swore as he too caught sight of one "What the hell are those things?" He asked in a surprised tone.

"Who the kriff knows...just SHOOT them!" Darren ordered as he took a shot at one of the warmongers - which didn't seem to slow it down at all and probably just ticked it off "alright...shoot them allot" He corrected to which his team opened up on the approaching group.

It was quickly determined that while mass fire did eventually stop them concentrated shots to one area or carefully place shots to places like the eyes worked best and they begin to thin the ranks. "Rex, any updates from pick-up or the away team?" Darren asked while in the midst of changing out a power pack.

"Pick-ups still a few minutes out but closing, nothing from Jethro in a while" He told Darren. Of course just as he said that a wall of a nearby store blew out and two familiar figures came vaulting through. Band new targets for the approaching Warmongers - who were quick to spot the moving but visible targets and concentrate on them rather then the barricaded Mercenaries. "suppression fire" Darren ordered "Bells get some Detonators in there"

Bell already slinging up her launcher smiled in a very spooky way and began to send a barrage of detonators into the approaching horde while her comrades concentrated fire on their flanks to push them into the explosives.

************************************************

The firefight outside sounded pretty spectacular even before Ras, Vidown and Telera followed Jethro and Miko out of the hole in the wall. Sure as anything it seemed their rescuers were in the midst of a fight of their own. Vidown roughly shoved Jethro behind some cover as the approaching warmonger's turned their attentions on the suddenly appearing targets "Need to work our way to the others he told Telera as she joined him behind said cover.

Ras had been on the verge of following them when firing noises from behind caught his attention - well it had only been a matter of time before they were followed with the way this missions luck had gone and it wasn't really a surprise. "Our pursuers have caught up" He shouted to the others before turning to aid Taaru and Erika...only to see the blur that was Taaru being sideswiped across the opening. "Masako's down" He said heading back in, Vidown cursing following behind him, ordering Telera to stay with Jethro.

[Erika Freeborn]

Feeling the wind against her back Erika spun around to see Taaru slam into the far wall. Well Kirff that wasn't good. And he wasn't getting up either. Igniting her lightsaber once more she thought if she could at least distract the warmonger for long enough the others could go help Taaru. Get up you bastard - Erika spoke into Taaru's mind.

Turning her attention to the warmonger whos attention was on the fallen Taaru Erika shouted as loud as she could. "Hey! Come and get a peice of me!" Well that certainly got it's attention. The warmonger turned to face Erika. A fire burned in her eyes of anger, they were so close to reaching the the meeting point and this bugger had interrupted them.

The warmonger lashed out at her, but she was ready for it. Jumping out of the way she landed on a pile of rubble. Using her blaster she sent a few bolts towards the warmonger to keep its attention on her before she dashed across the open area in an attempt to draw it futher away from Taaru for a few moments. A few more bolts from her blaster as she ran. As much as she wanted to see if the others were getting to Taaru she needed to concentrate on the task at hand. Erika was still quite drained from healing Telera so she needed to keep her concentration on one thing for now.

[Jet Almeara]

Jet's silence on the bridge was unusual - but she trusted her brdge crew enough to leave them alone, she had other things to focus on. Like her people on the ground, some of them were rather important to her and she heartily disliked being seperated from assiting them. Of course...when one is a force user the distence between a planet and a ship is a little thing, little things did not often stop Jet from doin what she wished and it had been no great expenditure of her abilities to keep tabs on the more important of the figures upon the planet below. Thusly - dspite the report which said Telera was injured...Jet knew Erika actually was and now/ Now she knew Taaru was in trouble as well, a small and tiny blip in his own force signature telling Jet he was unconcious at the very least and the breath hised out of her lungs in frustration.

Spinning away from the crowded control room Jet made her way to the door "Ice, meet me at The chaser" She spoke into her com as she went, waving off an orderly who tried to ask her something upon overhearing her order to Ice - she didn't much care if they thought she was leaving. In a way she was. Making her way through the ship with force assisted speed it didn't take long for jet to reach the ShadowChaser and seal herself away inside the vessel with Ice and locking out anyone else. She needed at least a mediocre amount of quiet to pull this off - it wasn't something she had done often, Grifter had taught her the theory and rules but she'd only accomplished it after he was gone and then only for short periods of time. She wasn't concerned - force of will had a way of letting people do things above and beyond and Jet's will was centered on one thing right now. It could be done and she would do it, end of story.

"Lock out any outside transmissions Ice, and keep quiet yourself, I don't want anything pulling me back prematurely." That probably wouldn't fare well for Darren, who wasn't her first choice but the only one at the moment. Settling onto her bed cross-legged Jet let herself fall into a force trance, let her mind drift out towards the planet below until she found her target. Darren was busy and distracted which just made her entrence all that easier. She could crush him she knew. His force abilities, training and will power were much smaller then her own. Darren could not hope to beat her in a mental battle, but jet hoped to avoid such things - earing apart Darrens mind might suit her purpose at the moment but not in the long run and so she merely knocked. Let me in she asked him mentally putting an edge of command into the words as well as a smooth comfort, tugging at the fondness they both shared for Devlin, they were family and he could trust her, they were in trouble...she would help. They were calming words designed to keep him from re-thinking or fighting her command, to keep him from panicing at this unasked for intrusion, she felt him close his eyes...and give in.

Flowing into his conciousness Jet settled into Darren's mind and body - a small trickle of her conciousness kept her linked to her own, kept her true body breathing but it was a small distraction and Jet could deal with small distractions. Darren she pushed to the farthest corners of his own mind, she could have made him sleep but he would awaken confused and probably tramatised - better to merely keep him calm but sequestered, like a second personaity. Stay there she told him be quiet and she opened his eyes, his normally brown eyes now flashing a pale and icy blue as Jet took over. She flexed on of his hands - differant to say the least and took in the scene with a glance.

The approaching warmongers were being well taken care of by Darrens team, she wasn't concerned with them - her attention turned tothe building where she saw Erika - a wounded tired Erika attempt to take on the creature that had attacked Taau, him she could feel elsewhere in the building beyond where she could see. Darrens force abilities were paltry compared to her own - but Jet at least knew how to use them to thier fullest ability - something Darrens training did not allow him. "Stay here" She told Darrens teamates - the words soundind funny to her in Darrens voice and flnging out an arm she bought the team a few moments of peace with an unleashed TK blast that sent warmongers smattering against the wall of a nearby building and rubble peppering them like shrapnal. not nearly as strong as she could have done - but hey you worked with what you had and to lead by example she shot a thermal detonator a the stunned warmonger. The team was quick to catch on and Jet aka Darren was already moving, leaping over the hovercar they were using as cover and bolting into the building as Erika tarted past her. No lightsaber.

Oh well...drawing a pistol she took a potshot at the warmonger to make it stop chasing Erika, senging it spinning to the ground thought she was pretty sure it wasn't dead. "What the hell are you thinking?" She yelled at Erika "Give me your kriffing extra saber!" And she damn well better have it on her Jet thought as she glared at her with a look that well it looked a bit off on Darrens face she was sure, but it was all Jet with the furious icy blue eyes that couldn't be anyone else.

[Erika Freeborn]

Something had changed, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it. It was like - her thoughts didn't get to finish as she glanced back upon hearing more blaster bolts. The warmonger wasn't on her ass anymore, which was somewhat of a relief. But then Darren yelled at her - no, wait that was Jet yelling at her, though it was Darren's body and voice. Immediately she unclipped her spare saber from her belt and threw it at Jer - er Darren.

"Just couldn't let us have all the fun could you?" She yelled across to Darren. Though Erika knew with Jet here, even if it was just to control Darren for the moment, that she was in big trouble for what she had done. But as long as the fighting continued Jet would not be able to lecture her over her actions until they were all safely onboard the ship once more. As much as she was not looking forward to all of that, Erika had to admit she was extremely relieved to see Jet.

[The Thruvarans]

The twins finished manhandling the carcass of a burnt-out family-sized speeder into place to align their barricade with the one the Corellians had improvised, arraying a diagonal line overlooking the eastern & southern approaches, with a small gap in the middle to give the dropship enough space to land. As they set the thing down and retrieved their rifles from the mag plates on their backs, they were the first to spot movement down the eastern boulevard.

Marek squinted, a subtle biosignal the suit interpreted as a desire to zoom the vision filter: The second the movement came into focus, a flash blurred the image. Seconds later, blue flares of energy impacted on his brother's I-field, knocking his twin back a few steps as the plasma fractalized on the MACS I-field, searing small holes in the surrounding asphalt.

<<All units! We have tangos down the eastern approach, twenty in number, mixed small arms!>> Marek shouts into his comm as he pushes his brother behind cover and brings his rifle to bear, firing short bursts as he begins to back up behind cover.

As soon as his message was out, the crack of an anti-material rifle heralded the flight of a tungsten ferrite shell the size of a forearm as it sped down the eastern boulevard and made a purple-blooded mess of one of the approaching warmongers.

<<Copy that, Marek,>> came the cold, calculated response of a sniper in her element, <<and make that about 50 tangos. There are more coming in from alleyways and side streets.>>

An other crack from the rifle, Jorunn picking out warmongers with ranged weapons before the ones with those odd plasma blades. From her vantage point on the 4th story of an office building, she and Till had an excellent view of both approaches. While she was on her belly using the AM rifle, Till was using his DMR to the best effect, peppering warmongers semi-auto fire.

Her comm buzzed with Laszlo immediate orders, and the walls of surrounding buildings began to flicker, the glass windows reflecting the muzzle flashes of a dozen or so bolters as they poured lead down the eastern approach.

Till was the first to notice much of the same down the southern approach, except the Corellians were handling that one.

Both of them spotted the cloud of dust and rubble as a hole opened up on the southeastern building of the intersection. Jorunn had to swiped an office partition aside as she stood to readjust her field of fire, only to see that it was Jethro & Miko, followed by other elements of the away team, picking their way through the rubble only to be forced into cover as approaching warmongers from the east took notice.

Jorunn takes a few more shots to open up a corridor for the away team to get behind the barricade, the deafening sound of the AM rifle muted only by her suit. Again, she checks the hole in the building for any other members of the away team, and spots Erika hobbling out of it. She breathes a sigh of relief when she sees her father following close behind, speaking into his comm.

Then he disappears, a blur of blue and gold knocking him back into the building.

<<NO!>> she shouts in surprise, to no one in particular as her comm channel is closed, a second or so passing before she zeroes her attention onto her HUD's zoom display once more. A massive warmonger comes into view in a window, decked out in gold armor and bigger than the others, one of its plasma blades ignited. She zeroes onto its center of gravity, holds her breath and pulls the trigger.

She reacts to the click of an empty magazine with fury and desperation.

[Taaru Masako]

Were he to look back on it later, Taaru would recall that his first semi-conscious thought after hitting the opposite wall was a fever dream, the kind marked by frustration & frenzy, like a university student with too much stimcaf & a dissertation due the next day. The expanse of the fever dream is a murky, oily wasteland, amorphous save for the outlines of familiar and yet foreign shapes. He stumbles through it, like a dying man in a desert, approaching the edge of a dark pool of water. Falling to his knees over it, he is about to dip his hands into it to drink, but freezes, a pang of gut-wrenching fear paralyzing him. The reflection in the pool is his, but not his, and before he can even contemplate the details of this nightmarish deja vu, the reflection lashes out at him, smothering him, choking him and driving him out of his own mind.

The nightmare void resonates furiously, like the waves from a rock thrown into a pond. A burst of light, and Taaru faintly hears a familiar outcry.

He opens his eyes.

[...]

His vision doesn't focus beyond a foot ahead of him or so. He is dimly aware that he is on a flat surface....ground or ceiling, he can't tell. He tries breathing, and it seems to work somewhat, aside from a stabbing pain in his side. He exhales, and notices a small cloud of dust propelled by his breath, which settles onto a stuffed animal in front of him, its beady eyes staring blankly back, as if asking a voiceless question. He also sees small flecks of blood immediately in front of him, as well as his blaster, out of arms reach.

He remembers where he is, and this flash of realization sends him into the frenzied seizure of a cornered animal, attempting to scramble awkwardly to his feet, and for his blaster. He can't tell, but his movements are sluggish and coordinated, and he falls to the floor again several times. He is dimly aware of a trickle of blood down his face, and a persistent ringing slowly works it way into his awareness.

[...]

The warmonger alpha stands with slow deliberation, having sufficiently incapacitated its prey. Unlike its brethren, it is an exceptional specimen: stronger, smarter, bolder. It reasons, thinks and speaks, though its language is only understood by its fellows. Thus, it leads.

It hears its pack following closely behind, making their way through the storefront with loping strides. It looks again at its felled target with yellow reptilian eyes, and sees a human larger than average, but just as weak. Its mandibles twitch in satisfaction and anticipation as it ignites its plasma blade and approaches to finish it off. This human's skull would make a fine addition to its collection.

It is interrupted by a smaller human female...the one he had allowed to pass before picking off the last member of this group. She yells the yell of a frightened animal, and fires at it, but its armor deflects the harmless blaster bolts. It swings at her to keep her at bay, not intent on hitting her yet, and thus misses. It is intent on finishing off the male, uninterested in the tiny prize the female represents....its pack can have the scraps. I turns again towards the felled male, and notices that he has begun moving. It takes a plodding step, cocking its head with some surprise: not many humans would awake from a blow like that....truely, this male would make a great trophy.

But interruptions never seem to cease, as the more powerful bolt from a blaster rifle knocks the alpha to its knees. Its snake-like neck twists to see another human male has joined the female, brandishing the offending weapon. The alpha snarls; it seems the trophy would have to wait. Infuriated by the interruption, it gets quickly to its feet and rushes the human male, igniting its second blade and lunging/stabbing forward.

[...]

The alpha's pack finally arrives, gracefully leaping through the the hole in the wall. Recognizing their pack leader, they charge the human male and female it is attacking, brandishing their plasma rifles and blades.

The final two warmongers through hole stay back and take their surroundings into account, noticing the alpha's current contenders, but also the fallen human male. They look at each other, both realizing the opportunity to steal their alpha's glory, their animal brains intent only on advancing in the crude heirarchy. They lope forward, blades ignited.

[...]

Bracing himself on the wall he had previously impacted, Taaru manages to get to his feet, though his knees are in imminent threat of giving way beneath him. Tho it nauseates him to do so, he turns his head to look at the room, and notices a whole pack of warmongers rushing toward the exit into the street. For some reason, they have ignored him.

He twists his head again to look for his blaster, and finds it, but movement in the corner of his eye distracts him: Two warmongers have broken off and are approaching him with plasma blades. They are within feet of him before he can consciously react, his awareness to dim and muddled by what will later be found to be a significant concussion.

He is relegated to animal instinct and reflex, lashing a hand out in a feeble attempt to stupidly block a bladed energy weapon.

The air around him bends and distorts abnormally for a fraction of a second, then explodes into an instantaneous pressure wave that sends a vertical crack forward and above him, up through the first 10 stories of the building. Windows all along the streetside face of the building shatter, and bits of reinforced ferrocrete shrapnelize throughout the store.

One of the warmongers is split neatly in half, its carcass spraying purple blood and viscera all around, while the second is soon buried temporarily beneath a collapsing ceiling beam.

Taaru stares incredulously as the destruction, then at is hand. Nausea spreads throughout, and soon after, he falls to his knees and vomits.

[Jet Almeara]

Jet snatched the saber from the air with ease and thought it felt unfamiliar in this hand it was none the less a good feeling. Jet always felt naked to some degree without her sabers. "I've been keeping tabs on things..two out of three major players down are not good odds,so I evened the field" she stated letting Erika know that yes she did indeed know that Erika was wounded not Telera.

That stated she spun as Darren's force specialty - the ability to sense incoming danger told her of the alpha's approach, almost simultaneously Taaru stirred as he awoke. Well that was a relief, Jet for a few moments been fairly worried about him, but she had the Alpha to deal with at the moment and her attention turned fully on charging female alpha. Somewhere in the back of her...well his mind really... Darren stirred slightly in response to this incoming danger before Jet locked him away again. I've got this she told him,calm down but the distraction had taken away a few precious moments and the Alpha was practically upon her before her saber ignited to block his strike. Jet preferred two sabers - a faster more agile way of fighting that made up for her lesser brute strength, but Darren didn't have that problem and because of his lifestyle was thankfully in excellent condition, Jet was able to bring a physical power into play she she wasn't capable of herself and parried the lunge, knocking the plasma blade upwards so that she could slip underneath the armored arm, but while Darren was stronger then Jet he was also larger and slower and she grew irritated at the adjustments she had to make in compensation, a normally graceful move turning somewhat awkward looking. Awkward but thankfully no less effective, she was able to effectively cripple the charging beast with a strike to the weakly armored back of her knees, a strike which sent the nearly delimbed Alphess to the ground, where Jet put her down permanency with a well placed shot to the back of her neck with the powerful pistol she still held in her secondary hand.

This of course angered her charging packmates considerably and they let out howls of fury as they felt her die. And while she would need to deal with them she spared a glance at Taaru taking note of the two charging him. Damnation - she hadn't got the Alpha off his back to let two lesser beasts at him - but before she could act on that thought she felt the power build within him, Taaru she knew was not thinking completely rationally quite yet, but was merely reacting to being wounded and cornered. Ignoring the pack who was hot on her heels she dove at Erika, tackling her to the floor and enveloping them both in a protective shield of the force as Taaru's attack sent shrapnel and rubble flying in every direction. typically Jet would have delt with that in a far more precise manner..but Darren's force ability wasn't capable of handling so much at once, one shield was simpler if less elegant.

The flying shrapnel and crumbling parts of the building did much to wipe out the rest of the pack and when the dust started to settle only a few somewhat dazed beasts remained, the one closest to Jet got a saber blade through the eye, those farther way were taken care of with rapid carefully placed shots from the pistol before they had shaken off the effects of Taaru's attack. One wounded beast was crawling about mewling but it would soon be dead if the indication of inards and blood trailing behind it's crawling form was any indication. Jet ignored that one.

She had far more important things to deal with "Get out!" She told Erika, pointing towards the hole in the wall. "The buildings unstable" Before she lept over some rubble and made her way to Taaru's side.

"Easy" She soothed him as she approached unsure of his mental condition "We need to get out of here before the building collapses, I'll help you stand" If he was himself he would almost certainly recognize the essence of Jet within Darren but if not well...Jet could only hope Taaru knew Darren enough not to outwardly attack through instinct.

[Dangerous Wave's Corporation]

"Did you see.." Nik started as Darren dashed off into the building, referring to the sudden change of eye color their leader had attained right before he'd gone all force nutty. "Yep" Khai answered though her attentions were clearly on mopping up what was left of the first advancing warmonger party. "Do you think that means..."

"Probably, now focus on the job" Khai admonished her brethren with a strict glance. "Weird" Was all Nik could say before following her orders. "Yeah well it sure helped us out now didn't it?" Rex chimed in causing Khai to sigh heavily as the conversation drew on. "Yeah but normally its Sagara.."

"Will you guys just shut-up and fight" Khai continued, taking a glance at the sky in hopes of seeing an approaching ValCAT.