Chapter 2: Forges of Ithyari

[Vergere 1]

Brent sighed once they got out of the area, meandering around and managing to end up near the spaceport Brier had arrived at, opposite of where the Revenants were headed. "Your friends sure enjoy going out with a bang."

Brier leveled a glare at him. "As if you'd be any less attention grabbing?"

He shrugged innocently. "Never said that." He grinned as she rolled her eyes. "I'm Corellian. What do you expect, miracles?"

She just shook her head. "Men." She became serious as she noticed him messing with a datapad. "Can you see them on there?"

"Yeah..." He hit a few buttons. "They're almost out of sensor range... that should help. Actually... they're crazier than me. They're headed for mountains."

Brier just groaned and rubbed her temples, glad no one was around them, and instead were in the city being entranced by the speeder chase.

[Rogue 4]

Layla grinned then pushed Takeshi off of her lap, grabbing a blaster. She turned around so that she was kneeling on the seat, and popped one of the windows open. She ducked out the window from the waist up, painting the shields of the front-most speeder scarlet. "I just can't wait to see one of these guys hit an outcropping!" She exclaimed, careful not to stick herself out far enough to do the same thing to herself. "Jaim, warn me if you're getting real close to the wall on your right side!"

Nat took the rifle throwing Nima a surprised look, and took up position to assist in the shooting.

[Mara 29]

Lots of good old memories flooded Kaden's mind as he sat there with his eyes closed. He could even remember the very rare moments of his childhood that were actually good.

The first time he ever held a blaster, he had thought he was too young, but it was necessary for all children of a certain age and the adults to carry weapons for their settlement was in a dangerous area. Eight-year-old Kaden didn't know what to do with it but carried it anyway...

He remembered mentioning his lack of skill quietly to Tashi one day and she had taken it upon herself to teach him to shoot and shoot well, something that no one in his past had ever been able to do or even taken the time to do. Kaden hadn't bothered with it either after joining Starfighter Command...

But then something came to him, but it wasn't a memory. He opened his eyes and noticed that the bus was currently speeding through a canyon and every available Revenant with a weapon was shooting and blasting at any and all Imperials on speeders that were chasing them down.

Kaden quickly opened up his bag of belongings and picked out the small blaster, feeling like it wasn't completely his own mind telling him to do so. Being in a seat close to a window, he steadied his shooting arm on the sill and closed one eye, picking out a target. Seconds and minutes went by as he still aimed at the 'trooper driving a little behind and to the left of the bus. The stormie was focused on those at the back of the bus with more firepower and didn't see Kaden looking down his sights at him.

He bit the inside of cheek, closed his eyes and was pressing on the trigger when he could have almost sworn he heard a voice inside his head.

"Kaden, don't close your eyes. You won't get anywhere that way."

Kaden opened his eyes again, almost surprised to see his small blaster still pointing the right way. He concentrated, trying to hold his arm steady and aimed at the trooper's neck where there was less armor.

"Force, Kaden, you're still blind as a Gharkian sea snake with your eyes open. Look beyond the target."

Blinking and still thinking he was going insane, Kaden listened and looked around the canyon, the interior of the bus, at all the shooting back and forth. Most of the Revenants' shots were bouncing off. Shields... He chided himself; if he had taken that shot, it probably would have bounced right back and hit him in his own neck.

Looking back through the window, Kaden adjusted his aim to higher up towards some loose rocks. He powered the blaster to its highest setting and pulled the trigger, still balancing his shooting arm on his other but trying not to close his eyes this time. The blast rang true, raining debris all over the speeder on the left side of the bus.

Edited October 26, 2007 by Mara

[Vergere 1]

She sighed as she watched the chase. "Alright, come on, let's check our nice little transport for homing beacons, and then I'll go pick up our little renagades whenever they decide to stop playing with the little Imps." The two of them headed into Docking Bay 92 and did a thorough search of the hull of the ship, checking for any damage or tracers of any sort.

Brent finished first, "All clear."

Brier nodded, "All clear." She sighed and shrugged. "Well, catch you later?"

Brent nodded. "Don't let them stress you out." He winked and pulled her into a bear hug, lifting her off her feet.

"Ugh... I'll try not to." She grinned and returned his hug tightly. "Alright you old bloke, I'm out. Catch you later. Tell the kiddies I said hi." She pulled away and unlocked the ship, and gave one last wave to Brent before heading on inside and locking up again so she didn't get any surprises. Sitting at the piloting console, she turned on just enough to keep up with the chase.

After putting the comm system on a scrambled frequency, she sent a message out to the Revenants. "Hullo all you lovely peeps. This is your lovely, intelligent counterpart, aboard your transport. Alert me when you stop playing with the pretty Imperials and would like to be picked up."

She grinned as she took something out of her pocket, that Brent had slipped into it. It was the recording from earlier. "Also, Lieutenant Riamor..... nice fall. Very classy. Couldn't have done it better myself. You should be a stunt double for the holos." She turned off her end of the comm before her laughter was heard.

[Rogue 4]

"Thank you for nioticing Captain," Lieutenant Riamor's cheeks darkened as he tried to focus on his shooting. It didn't help that he was recieving a very amused look from Aeric, and barely contained laughter from the rest of the Revenants. Somewhere near the back of the bus Layla Nasrin was having a giggle-fit. He shouted over the blasterfire and sirens, "I'll take that into consideration, when the Imperials cease control of the HoloNet!"

[Vergere 1]

Brier laughed out loud, and turned on her part of the comm again. "Oh, don't worry Lieutenant. I recorded it all. The fleeing citizens, fearing for their life. The selfless fall from the building, the graceful landing on the speeder, the chase scene. We'll make a star out of you yet, even if we have to broadcast it across the galaxy. Or at least, we'll have a pretty good home-made holovid to sell on the black market. Now, stop thinking about your future stardom and get yourself out of that mess." She silenced her comm again as she continued to laugh.

[Rogue 4]

Layla laughed so hard she hit her head on the drurasteel window-frame. "I'll buy a copy! Just name your price!"

Nat sent a few more bolts flying before glancing over at Aeric. "No chance we could bring her back to Coruscant and trade her in?"

Aeric laughed. "I don't know, I think she's going to get along with this squadron just fine."

"I know, that's what I was afraid of."

[Mara 29]

Kaden concentrated again, aiming and firing at more loose rocks in the canyon wall and splattering the speeder's shield with rubble.

He still couldn't get over the voice in his head. I thought I had reached a turning point... No more depressed, pining Kaden and back to focusing on the good times I had with her.... But now... I must be going insane... He tried to make logical sense of it all. Must be this mission.. these last two days.. all that time sitting dead in space and then all that time in camp before the mission started... Something must of snapped inside...

[Vergere 1]

Brier grinned and flipped the comm back on. "I heard that! Oh... and hmm... Miss Nasrin, I'll have to think on that. I'm sure we can come to an agreement, however." She tried to keep the laugh out of her voice.

[Rogue 4]

"Great! A little something to laugh at over drinks, or with the grandkids some day." Layla laughed as Jaim made a sharp turn in the canyon.

[Vergere 1]

Brier grinned. "Don't kill them, Mr. Adarra. They just had a laughing fit. What a horrible way to go, death by laughter." She sobered up as she looked at the sensors. "One of the speeders following you turned away."

[Drake 53]

The military speeder behind them opened fire. The opening salvo blew holes in the back of the bus, causing the Revenant transport to buck forward. The damage was mostly superficial, however, and the speeder continued at reckless and dangerous speeds.

Tak stuck his head and blaster out and resumed firing concussion grenades. However, the military speeder kept back at a relatively safe distance so Tak's attacks fell short. Looking over, he spotted Kaden firing at the walls to distract the security speeders. "Good idea, Kaden!" he said and shifted his aim to the rock wall of the canyon. The constantly increasing amount of daylight from the front of the bus indicated that they would soon be out in the open once more. Tak knew he would have to make this shot count.

It was then that they passed under a large natural rock bridge, spanning the canyon. Takeshi focused on his aim and fired off his last three grenades in rapid succession. Two of them struck the centre span of the bridge. The detonations caused the rock formation to shudder, crack, and finally buckle. Tonnes of rock came crashing down in the path of the military speeder.

Jaim drove the speeder out of the canyon and into the light. They entered into a smaller city offshoot of greater Valiria. At the centre of this city was a sprawling spaceport.

A sudden jolt brought Tak's attention back to the two speeders still flanking them. They weren't out of this yet.

[Rogue 4]

"Good job Tak!" Layla exclaimed, firing at one of the other two speeders. "One down, two to go!"

"Aim for the shield generator!" Nat ordered, causing a bunch of confused expressions to be directed towards him. "If we concentrate enough power on one point in the shields we should be able to get a bolt or two through."

[Ayingel 24]

Szen yelled over, "How big of an area are we talking about being open?"

[Rogue 4]

"It's not a huge opening," Nat admitted, shooting for the shield generator on the leftmost vehicle and hoping the others followed suit. "But we only need a shot or two to bring the generator down and then we can do some real damage."

[Vergere 1]

Brier leaned forward to watch the drama on her sensors, falling quiet.

[Mara 29]

After coming out of the canyon and being on the left side of the bus anyway, Kaden moved his aim to the shield generator of the smallest speeder. This wouldn't like the huge targets of the canyon walls; this was something much smaller. He held his blaster arm straight for a while before taking a few shots near where the others were shooting. Most of them went wide, bouncing harmlessly off the shield.

[Ayingel 24]

Finally, after several shots, Szen saw her opening. She took careful aim at the shield generator, keeping her hand as steady as possible on the jostling speeder bus. Szen held her breath as she pulled the trigger, much like as she had been first taught at the academy. Nothing to it...Just like old times. She waited less then a heartbeat before she fired. She couldn't tell if she had been the one to do it, but the first shield was down. Just like old times. Not wasting time, she aimed at the troopers.

[Drake 53]

Once the speeder's shields were down, the driver attempted to pull away but was too slow and met his fate by a flurry of blaster bolts. The second flanking speeders also lost shields but this one managed to pull back to the back of the Revenant transport. Unfortunately for that fellow, Takeshi and Jya were waiting with a pair of heavy blaster rifles. The security vehicle received a pair of smoking holes into its forward engine housing and went into a nose-dive.

The Revenants cheered as their pursuers were no more. Now all that was left was to find a safe place to abandon their ride and signal Brier for pickup.

***

No further security vehicles were seen in this part of the city and Jaim took it a little easier on the way to the spaceport. The bus, it seemed, was once in the care of an Ithyari band. The storage compartments held several cases with various instuments and equipment. The cases were emptied and replaced with weapons. When it was time to go, Jaim seemed particularly disappointed at leaving the Zabrak bass quetarra behind. After abandoning their speeder van, the squadron split into four smaller groups and made their way inside.

Anticipating an ambush, or at least increased security, the Revenants were surprised to find no resistance at all. Here, it seemed like nothing had happened in the main part of the city.

They signalled Brier for pickup and soon met her in a vacant docking platform.

Edited November 1, 2007 by Drake

[Rogue 4]

Captain Tunon obviously thought it was funny to send his Executive Officer in to the cockpit to assist Captain Fae with the piloting, and Nat had to wonder as he entered if he had done it for practical reasons or for irony's sake. Certainly Nat was among the very top of his class, and was proficient in flying a variety of transports--with a specialty in snubfighters of course, but Nat had a definate feeling that Aeric just got amusement out of the way Captain Fae had managed to tease and embarass him earlier. "Need some help Captain?" he asked in the doorway by way of greeting, moving instinctively into a salute.

[Drake 53]

Tak slouched in his seat and let out a sigh. "Well that escape was a little too easy, if you ask me. Are you sure we're not bugged?"

Aeric shook his head. "Captain Fae said that she sweeped the shuttle before leaving to get us."

"Okay," said Tak. "That answer just leaves me feeling more anxious. I think I'll be better once we're back in our X-wings."

[Rogue 4]

Layla sat down in a seat on the other side of the shuttle in a row of seats that faced the two of them and the other half of the squadron, wedged between Nima Secura and Szen Braenen. She didn't want to draw unwanted attention to the relationship between her and Takeshi. She did throw him a wry grin however. "Is the big bad Lieutenant scared?"

Edited October 30, 2007 by Rogue

[Drake 53]

Tak raised an eyebrow to Layla's question and smirked. "Scared? No. I'm concerned for our safety, though."

[Vergere 1]

Seeming very comfortable in the pilot's seat, Brier turned at Nat's voice and smiled softly. Before he even raised his hand halfway to salute, she spoke in that quiet, soft voice of hers, "At ease, Lieutenant. I'm not too keen on formality. Come on in." She nodded as he entered, "Would you prefer to fly, since I'm sure your squadron trusts you flying this thing more than me?" She'd turned her chair to face him so that it'd be easy to get out, and she was obviously unconcerned about possibly having to let him pilot the transport instead of her.

Edited October 30, 2007 by Tyche

[Ayingel 24]

Szen laughed a little at Layla's remark to Takeshi, but thinking about it, she snapped back to reality. "I don't know if we should be so worried about being bugged. I'm more worried about who's waiting for us as soon as we take off."