Chandrila

[Sandy Sarna]

Orion Wolfe strode down the causeway, adjusting the black gloves of his rigid uniform. He was old salt, a man of Borleias, proud in his way, but still holding the humbleness of a poor upbringing onboard conscripted cruisers during the last war. The Ara-Lai had been his command for the last year under the command of the Jedi Order, and they had treated him well. This mission they were conducting had an air of desperation, but he understood the necessity of at least saving the lives of the poor and innocent of Chandrila. As such the ragtag fleet emerged from hyperspace right over the planet into packed spacelanes. 

Sandy, standing beside him issued orders for the corvettes to begin their work of evacuating the Corennina Orphanage. Then they would begin on the central government complex. 

[Sandy Sarna]

The force moved around the bridge of the Ara-Lai with all the subtlety of a bothan hurricane. It manifested in the white flame that she had begun to associate with the path of the Exorcists. Those brave remnants of the Empire, now only a few dozen in number. It was an honour to be greeted so equally by one that was easily the rank of grand master in their order. Her surprised grin became even fuller as the voice of Darkfire echoed through the central communications hub. She instantly suppressed a blush and forced her heart to slow. This was not the time for childish crushes, but it was time to be the Jedi Knight she had trained to be. She looked back at the expectant comms officer and strode forward.

“Imperial Knight Darkfire, thank you for your assistance, please join the CR-90 Ashla's Nocturne in its evacuation of the Northern wing of the Corennina Orphanage. That is the premature and intensive care ward. Sarna out.”  

Her voice was calm but friendly, it did her heart good to see more than just the Jedi out in force today. And if the Mandalorians came out in force ere the evacuation was done, she would be glad to have Darkfire and Eleison by her side.She closed her eyes and reached out to both of them in a friendly embrace, thanking them for their presence and pouring resolve through the force. The comm’s officer also tightbeamed the shuttle and the exorcist’s datapad the orders of evacuation and triage. As well as the location of the microjump staging point at the edge of the system where the larger transports were being loaded by the smaller jedi ships outside of the invasion corridor.

[Sandy Sarna]

Far above the reuniting of the valiant Imperial Knights, Sandy stood on the bridge of  the Ara-Lai. Named after a long gone Jedi of the era some ten years before Sandy's own birth. A jedi from a time long before the current era of the Sith, when a stable republic fought an Empire of the Sith. Sandy herself wondered if such a Jedi as Ara-Lai or Starlisk, Andon, or that illusive Exorcist Locke Starspanker of whom the statue on Ossus stared emptily into the distance would have to say on the state of the Galaxy. So few Jedi now, so few left to fight that rising tide of darkness. Then she thought of her old friend Mirdala who had withstood the slavers tortures beside her. Was she in that mass of Mandalorians that now descended to feast on the dying Republic?

No. She could not be. None of those Mandalorians, Fett or Mirdala would stand for the sacking of the core worlds. As such they must have been overthrown and the Galaxy was so much the worse for it. She clenched her hands on the railing before her as she watched as one by one, transports exited the atmosphere to jump into lightspeed beyond the invasion corridor. There would be time to stem the darkness. There had to be. 

Sandy knew that she would have to make a stand here if any stand could be made. Perhaps as Revan had done some five thousand years before. Dueling a Mandalore to end the war. But for now she watched and prayed the Mandalorians would give them enough time to evacuate the orphanages. That at least Sandy was confident they could accomplish.

 

[Sandy Sarna]

Sandy's familiar voice crackled through the speakers of Kel's shuttle, wry with laughter and he could hear her smile through the comm link. 

"Kel? I am so glad you are here! Please join the Imperial Knights in the evacuation of the orphanage, then when all is finished, please join me onboard the Ari-Lai. May the force be with you!" 

Her voice dissappeared with a crackle but he would be able to feel the calmness of the force flowing out to greet him. 

((The Orphanage is filled with many hundreds of children left parentless by the coruscant disaster as well as the occupation of Onderon. Feel free to land and begin helping children onboard your shuttle and the Jedi frieghters/Corevettes.))

[Sandy Sarna]

Sandy could feel every little bit of joy in her heart sap instantly when the alarms in the bridge bellowed their shrill song and the massive hyperdrive signatures of the Mandalorian fleet arrived ten AU outside the edge of the evacuation corridor. The bridge was deathly quiet after the TAC officer reached forward and with a flick silenced the alarm. Sandy could feel a dozen pairs of eyes on the back of her blonde head as she took a deep breath, her mind racing for solutions. Her knowledge of mandalorians was pretty much null and void at this point, her only interactions having been with the Mandalorians under Fett. Mirdala herself Sandy counted as more of a mother than the woman who had abandoned her on Gala. But those Mandalorians were either in hiding or wiped away by this new death cult. A cult of honour and violence.

She was technically the ranking Jedi on Chandrila, and the Grandmaster had selected her to lead the taskforce. Though she could feel Kyrie below, she did not anticipate her being equipped to fight and take on any mandalorians, especially if they could just groundstrike the with nuclear missiles like back on Serrecco.

Come to war. Bring your strongest to be judged

What was it that Revan had done at the close of the Mandalorian wars?

She pointed to the COMMS officer as an idea began to form in her mind. Not a perfect idea, but one that appealed to both her own sense of being a Jedi, and what she perceived as the Mandalorian Ideal.

“Open me a communication to the Imperial Knights and our forces on the ground, closed band, encrypted.”

“Copy ma’am.”

When the commlink was established to the projedi forces she began the nervous speech.

“Imperial knights, Jedi, Republic troops, the mandalorians have come in force as we have feared. Wrap up your evacuations, and prepare for an escape back to allied space. I will delay the enemy until you can all safely make your departures, I want no acts of singular bravery, evacuate all that you can and then live to fight another day. May the force be with you. Sarna out.”

The communication cut out, and the stares from the bridge crew became even harsher. She swallowed the apprehensive bile that suddenly came up in her throat and pointed back to the COMMS officer.

“Open a communication to their Mandalore, broad spectrum and on guard as well.”

The comms officer nodded wide eyed. And Sandy stepped forward onto the holopad.  

It’s time to be that Jedi you always wanted to be

And with a snap of her fingers the COMMS officer indicated that she was live. Sandy stood tall and straight backed, her armour showing above her traditional jedi tunic. Her hand resting softly on the pommel of her long handled lightsabre. She spoke in basic with the pronunciation of the mandalorian titles as she had learned nearly six years before in a cell on Tatooine.

“Mand'alor, I, Jedi Knight Sandy Sarna, commander of the Jedi fleet accept your challenge of battle. I alone will fight for the fate of this planet and its inhabitants. Meet me in honourable combat at the location of your choosing. To the death or capture, my only demand is that the Jedi forces and evacuation ships be allowed to leave unmolested. They offer no great honour in their destruction. and the planet is not armed. I await your decision.”

Here goes kriffin nothing. But she knew that she had just signed her own death warrant. And she couldn't have been happier. 

((Apprentice Kel, keep on with the evacuations. Should I fall in battle I will meet you on Nar Shaddaa. Follow the Imperials there.))

[Sandy Sarna]

The vision that had kept her alive in those dark cells on Thalassia or Tatooine, that of her saving the galaxy from some galactic threat and bringing light to a galaxy of darkness were seeming to the young Jedi Knight all the more possible. Even though the eyes of the entire bridge crew on the back of her head brought her more nervousness than any kind of joy. SHe stared at the viewport for a long time as she heard the Mandalorian’s retort. Long enough that she could pick out her pale reflection on the viewport, cast against the distant stars and the huge Dreadnought slowly eclipsing them.

“Ma’am?”

Came the captain's voice, he seemed as surprised as she that the ploy had worked. And his shock carried with it a tad of incredulity, as if he doubted she would follow through. Sandy took a deep breath, running her hand through her hair and tucking the old padawan braid back behind her ear. She turned on her heel and looked at the bridge crew of the Ara-Lai.

“Comms, give acknowledgement and send with it the description of my ship. I will be taking one of the Jedi Aces.”

She looked around to the bridge crew and nodded, her finger nervously playing with one of the green feathers braided into the lock of hair that fell past her right ear.

“Return to the surface to assist the evacuation, take one load of passengers, then to hyperspace and safety.” She grinned though she didn’t feel the joy in her heart, just a black splotch of nervousness. “May the force be with you all. Captain you have the bridge.”

And with that, the commander of the relief flotilla made her way to the hanger bay and into the slick angular cockpit of a Jedi Ace starfighter. She left the helmet where it was in the cargo pocket beside her and with the flip of a few switches disengaged the magnetic locks and was on her way to the Star Dreadnought. Alone. Once she had cleared the orbital gravity well of the planet, she switched off the main deflector shields and left the weapons systems powered off. She kept on the kinetic deflectors in case a random piece of space trash decided to end her career before it had even really begun. She flipped another switch which activated the IFF transponder which had been set to match the one sent with the broadcast to the mandalorian forces. And when that was done and she was accelerating towards the Mandalorian invasion force with little more than a lightsabre and some knives, she sat back against the seat and let her eyelids flutter closed.

First she focused on the nervousness itself, then the distractions. One by one she let them be released from affecting her, swallowing them in the force and letting them be replaced by joy.

Joy at the opportunity, joy in life itself. She let the negatives pass and fed the calm happiness instead. And when she landed aboard the Mandalorian Star-Dreadnought Medusa, escorted by a flight of scary looking starfighters whose riders sat in the cold void, Sandy was smiling. It was accepted. All of it, even her likely death. For the evacuation would be successful. At least of the orphanage, and those thousands of lives were worth it. Worth everything. Even if she would have to experience the torture again.

She climbed down out of the cockpit and smiled at the cluster of large men and women in their hulking iron suits. It was not a smile of superiority, but a smile of friendliness. She maintained that smile even as she walked through the throngs of deadly and chanting warriors to stand before their God incarnate. Mandalore. She bowed and extended a hand in greeting to the surprisingly smaller woman than she had expected. From her stature she could not have been much older than Sandy was herself. Though her face was young she had some kind of metal in her mouth, though if it was a dental appliance of some kind of reconstructive surgery, the young jedi knight could not tell. 

“Mand’alor. A pleasure to meet you in the flesh.” She pointed to the large circle surrounded by warriors and marked by what looked like branches of wood. "I assume this is where we fight? Any special rules of a fight like this?" 

[Sandy Sarna]

The woman smelled like blood and gristle that had been too long cooked on an open fire. That and a healthy mix of engine grease and a different smell Sandy couldn’t recognize. She squeezed the girl’s arm as had as the mandalorian leader squeezed her own, and Sandy had a hilarious thought of leaning in for a kiss as a joke to ruin the tension in the room. But decided she didn’t want to just get outright killed by the mandalorians and their warparty, so just laughed internally at the image of such a thing. She broke into a smile as the woman released her arm and Sandy walked to her side of the circle. Gauging her distance from the mandalorian as a sparse ten or so meters Sandy reached out her hand and pulled the long handled lightsabre from her belt. Her fingers traced the familiar edges of the long handle, her scarred white hands finding their way by instinct to the double handed grip. Her hands placed about a hand apart, and gripping the silver cylinder in a light grip in front of her.

With a twitch of her thumb on a well worn red button the silver-white blade shot forth from the handle. Thirty two inches in length, and it reflected well on the well polished armour standing in a circle around her and the leader of the mandalorian death cult.

She tipped the blade in salute and closed her eyes, letting the force gather in eddies around her.

“No rules then Mand’alor.” Her voice was soft and subdued, almost sad as she concentrated on the room. Filling herself with the joy of battle, memories, and the electric like pulse of raw emotion that had filled the large room. The mandalorians were begging for a challenger, begging for death themselves to please their god. She exhaled, letting the fear drain from her to be discarded. She raised the glowing blade until the handle was equal with her own chest and the blade angled towards herself, the silver blade hovering an inch above her shoulder. The power gathered around her legs like a spring, imbuing her for movement.

And when the warpriest who was busy dancing in a chant finished with a yell, Sandy Sarna, commander of the Jedi flotilla and old apprentice of the Grandmaster moved into action.

The force propelled her towards the Mandalorian, speeding her sprint as she moved her silver blade in an arcing cut and switch into opposite guards. Bringing the handle in front of her into a circular strike that would if it connected, cut the mandalorian from groin to helmet in a brutal undercut with the easy twist of her pale hands. The trick was of course connecting and not getting slagged while doing it. 

This was not all the Jedi Knight did however, as she was well trained and mastered in the art of telekinetic projection she began to use that as well. Gathering the force into multiple tendrils with her mind as the cut arced in front of her. It would likely be a long fight, and she would need all the help she could get.

((1))

[Sandy Sarna]

Sandy’s breath seeped past her teeth in an exasperated hiss as her first strike missed and her danger sense trickled up her spine with a fierce annoyance. Her bright green eyes narrowed as she kept her concentration on the tendrils of the force, as they curled about her to grasp at the knives on her belt. But she did not move them yet, that would be for after whatever the Mandalorian would be throwing at her now. F

Another breath sucked in through her teeth as her foot touched down and the mandalorian leader had lifted her arm releasing a billow of flame in a stream from the fire launcher. Sandy let the force move through her muscles again, coiling in her muscles to spring her again. It was an easy and much trained technique, nearly second nature as Sandy’s concentration maintained on her mass telekinesis. She had to move fast to avoid the flame, or to deflect it. With a flick of a finger on the long pommel of her lightsaber, a tendril of the force snapped up from her belt with a vibro bayonet in its ethereal grasp. The blade angled flat as if intending to slap the Mandalorian instead of stabbing her. The blade intercepted the fire and parted it, sparing Sandy from cooking to death, and splashing the ground on either side of her booted feet with liquid flames. The flat of the blade shunted the burning fuel away from Sandy as the blade moved closer to the mandalorian, the blade held vertically, flat side towards the great Mandalorian, until it intercepted the thin stream completely. It did not however go further than interception, that would come later. So it stayed in place a foot out from the Mandalorian, blocking the stream of deadly fire, The blade took the fire greedily, turning the gleaming metal black as night as the fuel stuck to the blade, some dripping off its handle to pool at the feet of the Mandalorian.  

The force moved in her muscles, and Sandy lept to land beside the other girl, outside the pool of puddled liquid fire.  She switched her guard again in a cutting blur, in order to catch both any blaster bolts the Mandalorian would be sending her way, and for the silver blade to rip through the other girl’s midsection from stomach to backbone. Sandy kept her grin. Reveling in the fight. She had once been the least of the Jedi in the order, now she was fulfilling everything she had dreamed of. It was joy embodied, and her breath became a giggle.  

((2))

[Sandy Sarna]

As the orphans began to be evacuated to the outer frontiers of Chandrilian space, and as one by one the shuttles and capital ships departed, the Jedi began their withdrawl. 

((Kel make your way to Nar Shaddaa with 20 orphans. I will give you another mission when you arrive there))

[Sandy Sarna]

A thousand eyes watched as the pearl white blade crashed off grey mandalorian armour in a horrendous electrical discharge. The shock of the impact rattled up her arm, jarring her entire body as she hurled herself into the swing. She could taste blood in her mouth, sudden and bitter. The reward for biting her tongue on the slash.

She concentrated on pulling the lightsaber up to the thin neck of the Mandalorian even as a blaster bolt from her tore open the armour over her left breast.

And there they were.

Lightsabre to neck and blaster to exposed flesh.

A draw, in its conclusions, that caused a roar from the Mandalorians surrounding them in the circle. A smile passed between the women and they stepped apart. Both having accomplished their goals. With the departure of any familiar presences in the force, the Jedi Fleet had made its escape, and with them the provisional government and the occupants of the orphanages. And Chandrila was open for conquest.

She stepped away, saluted with her sabre and winced at the burned flesh below her collarbone.

Within the hour, Sandy Sarna had departed for Nar Shaddaa and the Mandalorians had conquered the last vestiges of the Core.

((Arranged three day with Chris over text. He is completely wiped out by clinicals/finals))