Is this it? DAMMIT! Another dead end. In hind sight, just diving into the side tunnels was a really stupid ideas. Most of these were uninhabited and leftovers from when the asteroid was one of the asteroids being mined. Irtar scratched his chin as he looked about. Everything just looked the same!

Suddenly, an idea popped into Irtar's head. He grabbed his lightsaber and in a crackle the brilliant blue blade came into being. Irtar looked about, and it didn't look like a slash would cause any sort of cave in. But really what did he know of geography? Irtar took a swing and made a distinctive gash into the rockface.

"Alrighty, now I know where I've been." Irtar said to himself as he made his way down the path and made intermident slashes. It took about a good five or ten minutes, but eventually Irtar heard the sound he was looking for.

Blaster fire.

Irtar began to make his way along the tunnels towards the sound of the fighting. It was obvious that he was approaching another one of the major sections the stormtroopers were making their way along. Maybe he'd be lucky enough to get into some kind of flanking position. At least he could distract a couple of them! Maybe find another of those troopers with all the charges on them.

In a couple of moments, Irtar came out of a tunnel that had instead a balcony to it. A small thing but it was obviously just so some poor guy wouldn't come running out of the tunnel and go splat on the streets bellow. This was obviously the main street.

Corpses strewned the street on both side as both had barricades set up. The defenders were holding out by sheer numbers. The street here was huge, and had to have at least eight stories between the ground and the roof. Irtar's awe of the scene bellow were interrupted by a shout this time.

"It's the Jedi! Blast him!" Irtar heard shout from one of the stormtroopers. Irtar heard a wooshing sound and dived back into the tunnel. The hairs on Irtar's neck had to be fried by the fire from the rocket. But that wasn't the worse part of the matter. The tunnel had obviously been made unstable by that explosion!

Irtar grunted as he took off down the path as fast as he could. This time take a different turn in the last fork. This time the path went down so maybe it'd come out on street level? Hopefully Irtar thought as he heard the rubble falling behind him. He didn't dare look to see if that was just from the tunnel he'd come out of or if this tunnel was collapsing to.

Irtar shuddered slightly at memories on Dantooine. So much the same. A sith, a cave-in, and the innocent being killed for no reason at all.

"Hmph, so naive. Why, I didn't push the button. But of course you didn't push the button, I did." said Necros, sarcastically and cruelly, looking into her tear stricken eyes.

"And guess what? I'll push the button a million more times, if you don't come with me. But, what did you say?" asked Necros, his voice turning from mocking into a deadly seriousness. Then he cocked his head backwards and let out a thundering fit of laughter.

"How sure are you of that? Who is to say, the moment you agree to come with me, that the killing won't stop, that, having gotten what I came for, that I won't just withdraw my troops, leaving the remaining people here in peace? But of course you know better, you've gotten a glimpse into what kind of a person I am. It pains me really, knowing that you would never willingly join me in a million years, but, you see, the thing is..." Necros trailed off, and used his hand to manipulate the force again.

He first re-tightened the grip he held on her with his left hand, then, so suddenly that he could even feel the wave of suprise rolling off from his stormtroopers, he clenched his right fist and drove it into her stomach, doubling her over in pain. He snatched her hair and brought her up, wrapping his right hand around her throat, but without clenching it shut against her windpipes. His very serious expression hardened even more as he stared at her terrified and pained expression planted on her face.

"The thing is though, is that you really don't have a choice in the matter. Either you will join me, or you will die. And I can assure you, your death would be a most painful one at that. So, I am giving you your first order. Come with me, back to the shuttle, come with me back to the ship, to where your training can begin in earnest." said Necros. He honestly did not expect for her to do so, but wanted to try blunt force anyways. He had successfully recruited every person he had come in contact with up to this point, he would hate to think that that track record was about to come to an end.

Damalis took her time getting her breath back since the Sith seemed inclined to let her do that. Really, she wasn't so sure she'd be allowed such a luxury in the time to come. There was no question in her mind about her answer, she'd say no without hesitating. She'd always assumed that when confronted with the choice of good or evil a person would really be tempted and find the glories of all that was evil and cruel to be appealing, at least for a few moments. But apparently she was too simple a person. There was no shades of gray in the future she could see, only dizzyingly bright whites and deep consuming blacks. She had but one choice and now that she was facing it, it didn't seem all that bad.

It brought to her mind a question. Why was death always the ultimate threat, when it was really the best escape? Oh, she could admit that the time leading up to it wasn't going to be pleasant, she had no illusions about that, but when confronted with the options of death or complete perversion of her soul, death seemed the more pleasant of the two.

"Sorry, but I've had training before." Why couldn't she just say no and get it over with? Damalis decided not to worry. She had a feeling she needed to stall, drag things out just a tiny bit longer. It was just a hint of the force power she could employ, the only one she had, and it was just a tickle on the senses of those who could feel such things but Damalis had trusted the feeling before and been rewarded. She was hoping for the best this time as well. "And it wasn't all that great.. so my answer is still no."

The sith cocked his head to one side, as if not expecting the answer that she had given to him. He had expected the destruction of the passenger liner if not physical blunt force traumau would frighten her into submission, but something new came to light during his unintentional interrogation during what was supposed to be a breaking. Apparently this woman has had previous training, probably from a light-sided force, and while apparent that she was no servant of the light, she apparently did have such a strong sense of ethics and morale codes that not only would she not join his crusade in the normal sense, but that his actions had only further sealed her decision as being the right one to make.

He sighed, audibly but not really visibly as no breath emerged from his mouth. It really was a shame, but the galaxy could be a cruel place at times. He had servants, already, true, and sure they were loyal servants, and some of them were brilliant in mind as well as ability. But none of them had the true beauty of this one, and what's worse, she had rejected him outright, even when confronted by his real face. No, he decided, this one would not be sold to the hutts, matter of fact, this one would not leave the station alive. He decided right there and then to make an example out of her, to serve as a lesson for current and soon to be subordinates.

"If you will not be turned", started Necros, his emotionless face rapidly turning into an expression of evil in it's cruelest form, "You will be destroyed."

He raised his right hand, and from it flowed a cascade of dark side lightning, the bolts crackling as they were discharged, the palm of his hand turning from a white flesh to a darkened crisp, the azure energy bolts lighting up the surronding hangar with a blue hue color. These lethal bolts struck Damalis, playing about her body, ripping her clothes, discharging into her flesh, frying it in some areas, or simply ignoring it while jolting through her body, damaging her internal organs and boiling her bloodstream. The brief but intense electical discharge threw her from the hull where she had been pinned in place onto the deck floor, leaving her lying there with steam rising from her body.

The sith knight pranced from his position, walking with deadly intent and purpose to straddle Damalis where she lay, almost unconscious now, her breathing coming in shallow pain riddled gasps. Leaning over, he cradled one hand behind her head and another hand under her chest, lifting her about a foot or two off of the ground. He then began to speak.

"It was a shame that it had to come to this. I really wish that it could have worked out between us. Just remember in your final moments that you were the one who choose this, not me. In choosing to decline my offer, you have not only hurt my organization, but you have also let yourself down. Carry that to the grave with you Damalis, and pray tell that no more are foolish to travel your path." said Necros in a slightly emotional cold voice.

Then his lips met her own in a brief kiss, of love sought and never found, of what could have been. Then, lowering her body back to the ground, he took out from the right side of his belt a lightsaber, and ignited it, the ruby emerald blade emerging with a snap hiss. He positioned the blade to point down, straight at her heart. He raised it high, preparing for the final plunge.

Irtar was heaving breaths as he came out unto a catwalk overlooking the wide street he had viewed from the balcony shortly before. Irtar's first instinct was to flop down and hope he wasn't spotted by any of the stormtroopers keeping watch. But unfortunately, that wasn't his luck, there was a short shout and motion from one of the troopers.

Irtar huddled down when the lasers started flying around him. Thankfully, whatever they used for the metal on this thing seemed to be pretty resilient to the blaster fire. Then Irtar heard a tinging sound behind him. And a whirring sound.

Irtar turned his head slowly and saw it. A GRENADE! Irtar took off with a start down the catwalk towards what could well be a hanger or something. Irtar wasn't quite off the catwalk when the grenade exploded, and he felt the metal beneath his feet start to slip away. Well, if Irtar was a normal person his adrenal induced jump would've easily allowed him to clear what was left of the bridge and then some.

BUT a Padawan that has only recieved slight formal training is capable of many things in an adrenal state that normal people can only dream of!

Irtar went right up through the air. It was like the Gungan incident all over again! Irtar flinched expecting the hit the wall, but he had made it through the doorframe. And past the staircase from it that lead down in the commercial hanger designed for large transports. Given the situation he was in now, he would've preferred the wall.

Gravity beginning to take effect like it often did, Irtar looked about for something to avoid a painful fall to grab unto. A chain! Irtar grabbed unto it with full might of self-preservation. Irtar held unto it tightly, breathing. And then he felt it. Irtar looked down and saw a man holding a green lightaber, giving him a look that'd kill him if it could.

The Dark Jedi Irtar had sensed earlier! It was then he saw the emerald blade going through the air, spinning towards him. With a yelp Irtar dropped from the chain. He heard the clinging sound of the saber hitting the chain, and then a whirring sound as pulleys and otherwise gave way to the wieghts they were supporting. At the other end of the hanger, a loud clanging sound was heard.

Irtar had been expecting a hard collision with the floor. He closed his eyes and waited for it, but something else happened first. He hit harder, yet more hollow surface. Irtar grunted, it still hurt and all, but it wasn't enough to break anything. He opened his eyes, and found he was on top of someone's personal transport. Thank the Force! He looked about for where the shouts were.

Apparently, someone had been bringing a shipment of durasteel rods unto the station. Likely for reinforcing the tunnels and for being fit for scafolding. The rods now free rolled out upon the hanger floor, upon the nearby stormtroopers. It would provide a convenient enough distraction that Irtar wouldn't have to worry of them AND the Dark Jedi.

Oh crap! The Dark Jedi! Irtar hurriedly pulled out his lightsaber and turned just in time to catch the Dark Jedi who was jumping through the air, a mask now hiding his features. Irtar just barely managed to parry the swing he threw at him.

OOC: Sorry, it didn't notify me that anyone had posted... I was waiting on Irtar all this time :b

There was a point at extreme moments of pain the body shut down and a person was aware of their pain, but unfeeling of it. Damalis knew her entire body was afire, but she was a step away from it, as it were. Every inch, straight to the tip of her hair, ached with the fever and sparks like electricity danced before her eyes. It wouldn't be long before she was unaware of a thing, but the Sith's attack had happened so fast, her system went into shock before she even had time to react.

Had she screamed? Damalis couldn't remember, even though it was moments ago. She should have screamed. The fact that she went silently into oblivion didn't seem right to her, but her brain was wandering even as she thought this, shutting down sectors as the system overload became too great. It was a blessing really, a person shouldn't have to remember that kind of pain and at the rate her brain was shutting off, Damalis wasn't going to have a lot to remember.

She certainly was unaware that her death stroke had been stopped or even that she'd been kissed. The arrival of the Jedi would have given her hope, certainly, if she'd been conscious enough to see. As the seconds ticked by, she drifted further and further away from the anchor that was her body and into a soft clean place that didn't bother her with pains and death. In fact, it was really very nice there, sweet, gentle, calm and soothing. Damalis was beginning to wonder why she hadn't gone there sooner, it was just so nice.....

"Uhhh......." What happened thought Necros. One minute he had been, what, prepared to kill the foolish woman who had rejected his advances, his apprenticeship, and then the next? He looked around himself, he was lying not quite flat on the ground, shards of glass surronding him. No, not the ground, but a stack of crushed crates, crushed by his body. As he circled his head around pain returned to his brain, and so he stopped, and stared skyward. That's when he saw the hole in the glass wall, the office that he had fallen through, five stories above his current position. Then he remembered.

He had been prepared to kill the girl, when a commotion off to his left had caught his attention. It was a jedi, a JEDI!!! Suprised that he had not felt his presence earlier, he had immediatley swirled to confront this new threat. He had thrown his lightsaber, only to miss, and then he had jumped through the air to land a crushing blow on this scum, but the jedi managed to get his lightsaber up and time, and parried the attack, leaving Necros falling through the air and into, and out the glass wall, falling down to....his current position. How embarassing thought Necros. He would immediatley get up, go back up there, and kill the jedi scum himself. Calling upon the powers of the dark side, he began to sit up, when he began coughing. Bringing his hands to his mask, he felt his mouth, where a wetness had formed when he coughed, and brought his hand up to his eyes. There, on the glove bore the crimson liquid, indicating that he had suffered internal injuries in the fall and landing.

And that meant, that he would have to withdraw. Yes, withdraw. Again, drawing upon the powers of the dark side, he forced himself to his feet and found the nearest stormtrooper, engaged in a blaster duel with some of the rallied spaceport defenders. He whispered into the stormtroopers ear that it was time to withdraw, and to take measures as necessary. One squad of stormtroopers, the other squad having been cut down by now, withdrew, covering their leader to the shuttle. Moments later, they were back in the docking bays of the Victory star destroyer. The capitan met up with Necros in the medical lab, and requested his orders. The ship had been damaged in an exchange with a Commonwealth patrol cruiser, although the smoldering wreckage the latter now filled the spacelanes of smuggler's run. They would withdraw, repair, heal, and then come back and crush, kill and destroy. For now though, Necros rested.

OOC Are we continuing this thread? Sad if not, we were in the showcase :(

((Working on getting caught up. Finally got the inspiration back.))

Irtar looked around, as he sat up from the hard ground. His back was sore and… man did he feel just flat out bad after that whole thing. And the Sith? Where was he? Why wasn’t he charging at him? He saw a broken window. Did the Sith over jump? Irtar sat up and looked around and the stormtroopers fell back.

He… won?

He was taken out of his puzzled daze as the woman on the ground coughed. Oh crap! The girl! Irtar ran to her side and took her hand, trying to bring her attention to him. To bring her to him as he tried to check her pulse to see how strong it was. It was weak and fading and only he heard was some unintelligible gurgling.

“Come on ma’am… I just nearly got fried by stormtroopers and a Sith… Don’t make it for nothing…” Irtar mumbled as he tried to pick her up as carefully as possible and make his way in the hallway. He made his way towards the nearest cheering of the local militia as they seemingly had thrown the Sith back and out.

“MEDIC!” Irtar yelled out as he ran towards the sounds of talking. “I NEED A MEDIC NOW! I’VE A WOMAN WITH ELECTRICAL BURNS!”

Irtar charged his way down the hall as fast as he could and he came upon a familiar group. “The fucking Jedi!?! You’re alive!” Called out the soldier he saw earlier in a half-laugh. “Holy shit! Who’s the chick?”

“I don’t know, but there was this Sith and… Bah! I’ll tell you afterwards! I need a medic! She’s fading fast dammit!” Irtar begged of the soldier. He could feel through the Force the ever longing ebb of her heart fading. Of her life fading. It was the first time he had ever felt something like this through the Force and it chilled him to the bone.

“Well, because you helped save our collective asses back there, I’ll put her before one of my troops. But you be damn thankful I’m putting a civi before one of my boys.” The soldier said as he motioned for Irtar to follow. “We’ll stabilize her until we get the docs out of the bunks. Field hospital is over here.”

“I won’t forget this!” Irtar said, quite thankfully as the soldier guided them through the broken streets. They made their way through the rubble and craters caused by the attack. Corpses of both sides littered the streets. Soldiers made their way through the living to find the survivors. Irtar shivered as he looked about. The death combined with the dying woman in his hands just caused this… cold to encompass him.

The field hospital they have set up was in a meeting hall of some sort. They had brought tables, beds, pretty much any surface that they could put casualties on for the medics they have to try and plug the bleeding. After a bit of looking they found an empty table as the soldier headed off and grabbed one of the medics.

“Do what you can for her Saw. I owes this sumbitch one and he wants this girl to live.” The soldier said in the gruff way he said everything so far. “Now I’m going to go and see how many those Imperial fucks killed of my men.”

As the soldier left, the medic ‘Saw’ gave her a once over. Irtar kept a careful gaze on the man as he went to work. “Hrm… severe electrical burns. How’d the miss manage this? Power overload?”

“Something like that….” Irtar muttered, not wanting to worry the populace about there being a Sith leading the force that attacked them. “Just do what you can right?”

“Well, I can’t do so much for her other than a bacta shot. Should tide her over until we get the doctors out of the civilian bunkers.” The medic said as he took a syringe with a long needle out of his medical kit and drove the thing into the middle of the woman’s chest. Irtar cringed and looked away while he did this.

“Pretty girl. Well, despite the burns and all. Your girlfriend?” Saw asked as he began to put the stuff back away before heading to another of the wounded.

“What? No!” Irtar said, looking at the still beautiful woman and then away while blushing slightly. The medic snickered slightly and walked off while Irtar grumbled and sat next to the woman.

Who was she?

Why was that Sith so interested in her?

He took her hand and squeezed it slightly, looking at her. Praying to whatever would listen that she lived. That even with a light so dim, it still burned with a more pure light than most in this dark place. It’d be horrible for such a thing to be snuffed from the galaxy….

It was amazing how quickly a person could adjust to pain. Breathing hurt. Moving hurt. Thinking hurt. The air around her body caused little rockets of pain to shoot off from her skin. But through all that, Damalis felt herself adjust. Alright, fine, we are in pain. Let's ignore that. It was surprising how readily one's mind accepted that decision and made the pain seem every day ordinary. Concentrate on something else. Breathing DID hurt, but more importantly it was hard. So, let's work on getting air in and air out.

One breath in, one breath out. One in, one out. Steady, constant. Keep up the pace. Well, no, let's not hurry, that makes it hurt more. This inner monologue held all of Damalis' attention and she didn't register the things that were going on around her because of that.

The force powers that lived in Damalis were decidedly strange. She, literally, couldn't levitate herself or anything else to save her life, she had no super fast reflexes, very little ability to feel the powers around her and she really couldn't fight at all. To top that off, she was at times clumsy. What she did have, however, was an innate gift to survive. Maybe it was because Damalis didn't use any her force abilities for anything else that it was able to turn inward and concentrate on living. That could be why she lit up like a light to those sensitive to the force when she got the bacta shot, as the force within her rushed to use the healing boost where it was needed most. Either way, while the power in her wasn't healing her any faster, Damalis' force energy was making sure the dingy blond it was in stayed alive long enough to get better.

With the bacta in her system, Damalis felt a tiny bit better, at least enough that she didn't feel the all consuming need to focus on one thing. Because of that, she was curious about what was happening enough to swim her way to consciousness. She was still alive, but for how long? Was the Sith still near?

With a flutter of her lashes, Damalis opened bright gray eyes and looked around. Things were watery, she hadn't noticed tears in her eyes before and it hadn't seemed so bright either, but after a few moments she was able to see things around her. She was very glad to find herself not looking at the Sith and because of that, her smile was beautiful and wide at the people around her. "Hello..." Damalis croaked huskily, relieved beyond description to no longer see the Sith and to find herself in a more friendly looking group. Now that she knew herself to be safe, it was time to rest and she did just that, easily slipping into sleep with a garbled sigh.