Home One came out of hyperspace space above Atzerri, being in the inner-rim territories the whole trip from point A to point B had only taken about an hour. Tash stared out into space looking at the seemingly harmless planet, she knew better however. Atzerri was a cesspool of crime and villainy, Toni had shifted gears between his mellow take off mood, to a now nervous tone. Tash hadn't fully caught up with Leia as she had hoped to do, but once Leia had explained the situation Tash knew that there would have to be another time. Tash had also wanted to further ask about Luke and Leia being brother and sister, but Rancisis had put a damper on that as well. As they steadily approached the greenish blue planet Admiral Ackbar came into the staging area where the three garrisons of Republic soldiers were waiting along with Tash, Toni, Rancisis, Luke and Leia. "Men we are approaching the Atzerri system and have given word to the local government of our intentions. You will be the first strike teams to deploy, Master Skywalker has personally sought to this matter and he will be leading a small force of Jedi." Ackbar held a hand out to Luke who stood next to Toni, the both of them had been comparing techniques to use in the field which for some reason Rancisis had not interjected to like he had Tash. The soldiers in general seemed relieved to have Jedi here, but a number of them were still fearful of Eppon who sat in his meditative trance. "This is to be a rescue operation so watch your fire; among the listed targets are General Han Solo and Admiral Garm Bel Ibis. The ship we've been tracking has made several stops to a small guarded compound in the forest, it is unknown of the amount of firepower they have there, or if the captives are there at all. But put in effective immediately is a planet restriction, so that if they try to move the prisoners off planet we'll have them by the time they hit the atmosphere. Men good luck and may the force be with you." The soldiers snapped to attention and began huddling inside transport ships, Luke and Leia had gone into the first transport while Toni and Tash sat next to each other in the second transport leaving Rancisis with Eppon in the final craft. She wouldn't know if they would get along, but she noticed lately that Eppon was improving his ability to stay calm when away from Tash. The made a weak groan and suddenly it felt like they were nose diving towards the planet, the action made Toni grasp Tash's hand. He wasn't sweating, but he was having trouble controlling his breathing. Once they entered the atmosphere the feeling stopped and Toni started to relax.
"We're okay, you can let go now." Tash said. Toni looked at his hand as if amazed to see it resting on Tash's hand.
"Oh right, sorry." He quickly folded his hands and put them on his lap.
"You never told me you were afraid of flying." Tash teased.
"It's not so much the actual flying experience, more of the number of possibilities that can happen either during planet approach, take-off, hyper space, landing…" He was afraid alright. Tash kept her mind open as they approached a large forest. The ships touched down in separate gaps from each other. The troops were already fashioning their weapons and checking their blaster clips to make sure they were full. "Where do you think we rejoin the others?" Toni asked as he and Tash looked at the thirty troops standing at the edge of the clearing.
"You don't." The two padawans turned to see a slender white skinned woman holding a whip. They had not even sensed her presence, but now that they saw her they could tell she had somehow eluded their visions. "You and your troops are to surrender at once or be destroyed." A couple soldiers saw the woman and had alerted the others; soon everyone was staring with rifles pointed at the strange woman.
"Who are you?" Tash asked.
"She's a Nightsister." Toni responded in disbelief.
"What's a Nighsister?" Tash wasn't focusing around her and didn't sense the group of men that came out of the bushes. Toni was still staring at the woman also unaware of the invaders.
"Nightsisters were a secretive race that could use the force. Although their powers were severely lacking to that of a Jedi's." The soldiers had now noticed the two dozen well armed men behind them and taken a circular defensive stance.
"What do you want?" Tash directed the Nightsister.
"It's not what we want, it's what Tyber wants…" her words trailed off as she looked towards the trees. Both Tash and Toni also sensed it and seemed the only ones not shocked to see a charging Eppon bursting through the foliage. His appearance made most of the invaders turn to face the fearsome creature. The area erupted in blaster fire as Republic Soldiers poured plasma into the armed men, most of which were firing at Eppon. The creature was progressing slowly through the rain of shots, slowed by the heavy blaster rifles the invaders were armed with. A blurred figure came out from the same side as Eppon and with a blue lightsaber in hand began carefully deflecting fire away from the soldiers back into the attackers. Tash and Toni were both amazed at Mater Rancisis's skills to notice the woman fleeing into the forest.
"Master!" Toni called out pointing to the fleeing Nightsister. Rancisis didn't stop deflecting; merely he turned his head enough to see the fleeing woman.
"Go! Everyone was attacked upon landing, Eppon and myself had defeated our attackers as well and Luke and Leia. They're beginning their assault on the compound help them I can deal with this scum." Rancisis put his full attention back into the fight. Tash and Toni didn't hesitate and began chasing the Nightsister.
"Eppon!" Tash yelled back. Eppon was currently holding a squirming man in the air when he saw Tash ushering him to follow. He through his prey into two other men and caught up to her without effort. The woman had eluded them, but they didn't have time for that, Tash could hear distant rumbling up ahead and the distinct sound of scorching laser bolts. The front gate which seemed at one point to be some sort of high density steel was blown apart, a mesh of unknown combatants and Republic soldiers lay here and there describing how the assault had gone. The compound was laid out on a grid of some sort; aerial photos had shown that three small courtyards all connected to a large one towards the back. Toni was quick to take charge, not that Tash was complaining.
"We need to regroup with Master Skywalker, he'll know what to do." They raced towards the nearest fight, a narrow hall connecting the first courtyard with the main large one was an intense grudge match. A well placed enemy laser cannon was keeping the soldiers at bay. Toni caught up to what he assumed was an officer firing his A-280 blaster rifle randomly down the hall. "Where is Master Skywalker?" The man seemed upset to get such a command from a child.
"Look kid we got our own problems as you can see, why don't ya stay here and help us out a little?" He was being sarcastic, there was no way Tash could deflect the rapid fire of the laser cannon. Toni showed remarkable skills in deflecting fire, but she didn't know if even he could navigate safely through, that left one choice.
"Ok, get on the radio and find out where Luke is I'll get rid of that gun." The officer was skeptical of her response. Tash knew how to do it though, or more like 'who' to do it. Eppon charged on a moment's notice growling and snarling as he was pounded by the much heavier plasma gun. The wounds were becoming especially bad, and mixed expressions of questionability and doubt raised between the soldiers as they saw Eppon slow down form the bombardment of fire. As if the plan could look anymore hopeless, Eppon's left arm was blasted clean off at the elbow and fell to the floor just feet from the gun. Toni was appalled by the sight of the creature's black, purple blood spill onto the hall floor and held his breath so as not to gag.
"Nice plan kid." The soldier wasn't the least bit concerned that Eppon had just been executed, but it didn't bother Tash, she knew what was about to happen. As if on cue to her thoughts Eppon began to twitch and jerk, the expressions on the soldier's faces was absolute horror as a new left arm jutted out from Eppon's elbow. The creature slowly got to its feet to show his enemy that all his injuries had healed completely. With a new arm Eppon reared up and head first charged into the gun breaking the barricade and sending the enemy in a furious run for their lives. "well I'll be damned." He looked back at Tash who stood with her arms crossed. "Oh right, Master Skywalker and Madam Leia have broke through the second courtyard and are about to assault the main yard." He was still in shock over the recent events, and Toni wasn't doing much better seeing as he almost fainted at the sight of Eppon's regeneration ability.
"Thanks, Eppon c'mon leave the bad men alone for the nice soldiers." Eppon took orders like a dog as he stood in the now deserted hall, on all fours he caught up to Tash, passing the still bewildered soldiers who were now advancing cautiously through the hall once Eppon had left.
