Rushing out of the Sith temple, Darth Rowax looked around at the now empty space where before had sat a row of speeder bikes. This didn't bother him at all though, he didn't need things like that he had a ship that would get him there in half the time of those blasted bikes. Still he had one problem though, where was he gonna find a co-pilot to help him activate the cloaking should he had, had installed. Even Efour wasn't good enough to activate that so it would have to be one helll of a seasoned pilot.

Looking around, Rowax scanned the immediate area for an apprentice he could trust not to mess the whole situation up...

That was when he spotted Darth Kane in the crowd, looking as if he could take on a group of wookies without even batting an eye lid, this person would most defonitley do...

Darth Kane could feel someone watching him. The crowd began to bore him. The he saw Darth Rowax looking at him. Kane felt something, so jumped over the crowd and landed beside Darth Rowax, and without even a movement, spoke.

"What is it that you need?" He said as he took out his lightsaber.

Leiden had listened quietly and calculatingly to her Master's words. She smiled and licked her lips slowly. Finally an opportunity to do something. As soon as Master Vance had left the room, she turned and surveyed the rapidly diminishing crowd with something between interest and contempt. Rushing wasn't going to make things easier. Most of the speeder bikes had been taken. That didn't particularly bother Leiden too much. She had her ship set aside, and it was small enough that she could take that and manuever it through the area pretty easily.

Her Sith... brothers as Master insisted on calling them appeared to have already split off into groups. Tapping a finger against her lower lip, Leiden took a moment to ponder . A pounding sense of exhiliration and adrenaline was building in her, followed by darkened anger. She let it just take over and took a deep breath. It was centering and energizing. Large numbers, one isolated area, possible help from outside. Hmmm... Probably better not to go alone. But who to go with? Leiden was picky. Most men were too easily manipulated to be trustworthy. That could be a plus, but in a situation like this, it was something she considered a downside.

Either way, she needed to get a move on. Her training saber had been strapped on before she came to this meeting, and she had no need to go back for it. It was taking some practice to get used to a lightsaber. Leiden had always used a blaster till now, and although she was learning quickly, and her reflexes made for rapid progress, it wasn't second nature to her yet. Well, here was a nice open opportunity to become more familiar with the weapon. Throwing one last calculated glance at those still gathered, Leiden headed off to her ship. It was within sight distance, and she reached it quickly.

She decided that she would get it ready to go and then take one last look around the area before heading off. She wanted to at least attempt to cultivate understanding between herself and those she'd be fighting with. Hopefully, she'd find someone she could tolerate quickly. Taking a deep breath, Leiden allowed her anger at this intrusion into a place she considered home to build and strengthen her. She kept it from taking over entirely for the moment, just so that she could keep a clear and tactical mind. Once she actually reached her prey, she wouldn't hold it back.

Vance activated his comm, sending a tightband transmission to all Sith forces:

<<"Remember, Apprentices, that you must take care of the compound first... they have the higher powered Communications gear, which allows them to transmit farther than the frigate... We can not allow that compound to remain active before the frigate is captured. Destroy the compound first.">>

And deactivating the comm, Vance continued to watch from the peak of the temple, his eyes narrowed. The Apprentices who were jumping the blaster were clearly marked out to him; and the fact they weren't working together was also another cause for concern...

Zarith nodded at the Master's instructions. It was a good mission, one requiring some skill and teamwork along with stealth and fighting prowess. It was obviously an exercise to see how they would perform under real pressure, and how they would work together. It should be effective in weeding out some of the weaker apprentices at the very least. Zarith smiled at the thought.

Zarith turned to discuss the mission with the other apprentices only to see several of them dash out of the room like children racing to be the first to get some treat, pushing and shoving to be the first ones out. The sight disgusted Zarith. It was foolish and immature, not how he pictured a true Sith would act like. Sighing to himself, he walked briskly from the room to the hanger where the speeder bikes were located.

There were still several speeder bikes sitting there. He listened to the comm chatter on his commlink and heard the laser blasts and screams in the distance. "hmph, it seems the element of surprise has been lost," he muttered to himself. He glanced around at the few Sith apprentices still gathered in the hangar. Hs raised his voice to address them all.

"It would seem that some of our fellow apprentices have rushed head long into battle. We must neutralize the enemy encampment immediately before they fully realize what is happening. Perhaps we should work together and form a plan of attack, but we must move quickly, I imagine the enemy heard those blasters and screams as well."

Darth Nihilus was onboard his ship when there was an attack, so he left the controls to his HK-50 while Nihilus opened the hatch and jumped out from his craft. When he was near the ground, he activated his lightsabers and joined them up to become a double bladed lightsaber.

"Grrr...Son of bitches. Destroy them all!!"

Nihilus used the Force to ease his descend and touched the ground gently.

Nihilus activated his comm and opened a channel to his ship, "HK-50 survey the area and release the weapon-equipped 'Dark Eye' probots now."

"Will do, master."

Nihilus changed the channel to Vance, "Vance, its Nihilus. Just heard the news about the attack. What needs to be done, Vance?"

Valas heard the Vance's comlink click over. Looks like they set out a bit soon, they would have a while to wait if the compound had to be disabled first. He finished dragging the bodies into some brush and took a seat.

"Looks like we've got a bit of a wait ahead of us." He said to his partners." He pulled out his ComLink and flicked it on.

"Valas hear. We've got the shuttle situation secured. We'll wait near it. If anyone needa additonal assitance we can be there in a moment. Vance out."

Taking each word from her Master as if they were spoken from a God, Dehoir began to think intently on the best and most effective form to attack the interlopers.

Her attention wavered as she witnessed most of the apprentices dash toward the hanger in an attempt to be the first into battle. And likely the first to their death beds, she thought. She glanced around at those that were still present and noticed a young apprentice dressed almost entirely in black. Furrowing her brow, she began to follow him into the hanger.

As she moved past the entrance, and completely entered the hanger bay, she moved closer to the young Sith apprentice. Before she could address him, he began to make a unorthodox announcement.

"It would seem that some of our fellow apprentices have rushed head long into battle. We must neutralize the enemy encampment immediately before they fully realize what is happening. Perhaps we should work together and form a plan of attack, but we must move quickly, I imagine the enemy heard those blasters and screams as well."

A gentle smile played across her face as she listened to Zarith. He was right, and the ones who ultimately ran off in order to obtain some sort of glory in their own eyes, and the eyes of the Masters, were simply mindless clods.

Dehoir raised her hands and removed her hood, revealing her red locks and intense emerald eyes. Smiling wickedly, she placed a hand on Zarith's shoulder and addressed the young man.

"I concur. We need to formulate a way of getting into that compound, and ultimately, into the orbital frigate."

She removed her hand, circled around Zarith to face him directly, and continued to address him, and those still present.

"Suppose we kill all of the intruders in the compound; we would be without a way to get to the frigate without being detected." She inhaled deeply, and tossed her head back as she continued. "I suggest we take one of theirs alive. He, or she, could then contact their people aboard the frigate. From there we have our prisoner request a shuttle to pick him, or her, up; giving us the opportunity to fly undetected to the ship in orbit."

Dehoir lowered her head, turned, and looked to Zarith, then to the others, still within the area, for their thoughts.

Zarith was waiting for a response from his fellow apprentices when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The action did not startle him, but it did surprise him and piqued his curiosity. He knew little about the other apprentices, so he was uncertain as to who would make such a bold move.

"I concur. We need to formulate a way of getting into that compound, and ultimately, into the orbital frigate."

His right eyebrow rose as the figure circled around him and revealed herself. 'Another intelligent apprentice, one who did not lose herself to simple bloodlust. Excellent. That fact that she was a female, and a striking one at that, could make things very interesting. Of course I need more than simple looks; right now I need intelligence and skill.'

"Suppose we kill all of the intruders in the compound; we would be without a way to get to the frigate without being detected." She inhaled deeply, and tossed her head back as she continued. "I suggest we take one of theirs alive. He, or she, could then contact their people aboard the frigate. From there we have our prisoner request a shuttle to pick him, or her, up; giving us the opportunity to fly undetected to the ship in orbit."

A slight smile played on Zarith's lips. 'Yes, I could work well with this one. Very well.'

Zarith nodded at Dehoir. "An excellent plan my lady. A prisoner would provide us with a familiar voice to contact the orbiting frigate with and provide the appropriate codes to them. As for a plan of attack, the rashness of our friends may work to our advantage. If we take our speeder bikes and circle around the compound, away from where combat has broken out, we may be able to move in close undetected. Most likely a large portion of their patrol and guards are rushing to check out what is happening. We can avoid them entirely and hit the base from the rear or flank."