Welcome to Gaia! ::

He sighed, "If he wishes to torture me now then so be it, I knew it was coming anyway," he sighed. Another loving load of pain, what experimens were they going to put on him, it was just going to be like the slave days all over again.

He sighed, "Fine! Teach me! Teach me everything that you know, bu tknow this, I shall not call you master," he said standing and looking at the droid exhausted.

((I am basing Archs pistol style on the Gun Kata for those not in the know. Grammaton Clerics for the win))

Archaras danced, his Blasters spitting emerald doom at his beck and call. Dozens died to the precise shots of his weapons. He moved like an artist, his mind running through millions of positions that had been taught to him by his mentor. He seemed to dance. It appeared that he was using a martial art in accordance with his pistols, and it was simultaneously beautiful and terrifying to behold. A double tap here, a three round burst there, but mostly single shots that were horrifically precise.

But that was not all of Archaras' prowess. Anyone that got inside his guard soon suffered a multitude of injuries, ranging from shattered wrists to snapped necks to torn throats. Archaras' clothes were dotted with spots of blood by this point.

Then suddenly, it was over.

They had started with three hundred. 4 had survived to flee into the city. Archaras straightened and holstered his pistols, smiling as he did so. He looked about, then said, "I believe we should move into orbit as fast as we can."

He looked at Iria, and played the battle back in his mind. She was young, but her prowess was obvious. He looked and then said "Mistress what is your-"

Then the thug he'd knocked out with his empty concussion rifle earlier awoke, and drawing a bead on Archaras' head, fired a blast.

The Force told Archaras about it before the blast ever left the Xciter. it surged at him, and the Force filled his body. He surged out of the way, dodging (Matrix style) supernaturally fast, his white hair a blur. The bolt missed easily. Archaras turned and without so much a snarl he drew his Reaper and pumped three rounds into the thug.

There was a pause

He turned to his compatriots, and removed his veil. His face was strikingly attractive, and a sad smile tugged at the edges of his lips. "I believe it is obvious at this moment that I have not been completely honest with you," He said reaching out toward his ship. "My name is not truly Anshiel Russ. It is a moniker I have used during my travels so as to remain anonymous from my pursuers."

Archaras' Lightsaber flew into his grip. He activated it and then gave it a flourish, and bowed.

"My true name is Colonel Archaras Seraphim, late of the Imperial 505th Legion and Knight of the Imperial Order. I am at your service."

He rose from the bow, deactivating his saber as he did so and clipped it to his belt.

"I'll give you a moment for responses, feel free to curse. I started as a Private. I've heard worse than anything I can assure you. Then I suggest we discuss strategies for the upcoming battle in orbit. I have many ideas for it I assure you."

He looked at them and smiled awaiting their response...

Inside the board room of the financial building, some twenty hostages lay face down upon the floor, frightened and trembling as some fifteen JANR's kept watch and worked upon the antimatter bomb that they had brought with them.
"Look at those fools out there." The leader, a Duros male muttered. "Thinking they're safe from harm because they live in the Empire's Heart? We will show them the folly of their ways. We will destroy this chunk of Coruscant, and teach the populace that the Empire can not protect them from the terror of the Galaxy..."
He chuckled at the thought.

Then there was the sound of hisssing, screaming, burning metal, drawing the suprised expressions of the JANR's to the locked door.
Someone was trying to cut there way in.

The JANR's leveled their blasters at the door as an external force suddenly blasted them inwards, catching a pair of JANR's and slaming against them, knocking them flying into the wall.
Standing there in the hall was a slim dark haired young man, his green eyes burning and a live white Lightsaber glowing in his hand.

The men's eyes widdened in fright and terror.
"No...it cant be..." One of them gasped.
"An...an.. Imperial Knight!" Anotherone stuttered. "But it cant be! The Emperor disbanded you!"

Link walked into the room slowly, like a predator moving in upon a herd f prey.
"This one is not an Imperial Knight. He is Jedi. A keeper of Peace and Order in a galaxy berift of it."
The men's eyes went wide. "Impossible!" one shouted. "The Sith destroyed you! banished you to the Outer Rim!"

Link continued to walk forward, locking his had gaze upon the nervous JANR leader.
"Darkness can not exist without light. Without Jedi, the Sith can not be. And even in the heart of Krayt's empire, injustice is not safe from the light of this blade. You are under arrest, and this one demands that you throw your weapons down and disarm that bomb, that is-" he paused and met the eyes of every terroist in the room. "-if you like living."

The men were frozen in place for a moment.
Then, their durosian leader found his choobies and hefted his Carbine.
"You talk too-" His words were cut off by a scream of pain as a spinning disk of white light sawed through his arm and came spinning back around to Link's waiting hand.

"That was your final warning. After hearing your little speach, this one has no probelem putting the lot of you blood thirsty fools to the sword."
"Fire!" The duros shouted through his pain.

And, to Link, the world around him to a crawl.
He saw the blaster bolts leave their barrels at a snail's pace, calculated where they would fly, and stepped to avoid them.
He made his way over to the nearest shooter and sliced through both blaster and flesh, then made his way to the next, sidestepping the painfully slow moving blasters as he walked casually up to each target and cut them down.
Hard training, Coupled with his own inate force skills, speeded Link's reaction time to such a degree that observers could not believe he was dodging the blasts.

As the last one fell, Link snapped out of his combat state and turned a dark glare upon the Duros who had managed to make his way to the bomb.
"You failed, Jedi!" The JANR crowed. "I'll set this bomb off and take everyone with me! You will all -" The Duros fund himself unable to speak, his throat being squeezed by an invisible hand.
"This one can not let you do that." Link said calmly as he gestured with his hand.
The duros went flying away from the bomb, striking his head against the wall. the blow knocked the man out and he sagged to the floor.

The hostagaes were safe, the bomb had yet to be armed, and the terrorists were neutralized.
"Mission accomplished." Link said to himself as he silenced Rk'adk.

He glanced up at the ceiling as the hostages slowly started to rise.
"Link turned to them and nodded. "Stay where you are. The authorities are on their way to clean up this mess."
With that, Link nodded to the people and disapeared through the door he had come through.

Within moments, a team of storm commandoes had burned a hole through the ceiling and had deployed in the room, only to find their job done for them...

Archaras looked at the other Knight and smiled. His demeanor had changed noticably. He stood straighter, and his eyes hardened, becoming precise, his gaze analyzing everything in a heartbeat. He had ceased being the Rim Mercenary and returned to being the Warrior.

"Well, I wasn't aware I was as popular as that. I supose it speaks something of my prowess...but more should've been said of Lord General Calgar, my mentor. He was a man whose skills were truly legendary," He intoned, his face saddening toward the end.

"But that is not important. How many vessels do we have at the ready for our rescue operation?" He queried, simultaneoulsy reviewing the forces arrayed against them via data link.

He looked at the rest and waited for their response...

"The Aldera Ballet is a fine vessel, sir," Gunther said to Archaras.

"We also have a corvette in orbit manned by volunteers from Bespin and Kashyyyk. In addition, we have a squadron of Sparrow fighters manned by volunteers from Mon Calamari." Rusty chimed in.

He glanced at the Merc and said "I'm sorry to hear that...Well, I grew up in the trenches, so I guess its to be expected."

He glanced upward and then said "Well I hope the fighters you have are upgraded to current technological standards as the forces arrayed against us are considerable...A wing of mixed fighters, consisting of two Squadrons of Talons, 1 Squadron of Stilettos, and the rest are uglies, with generally light or no shields. His Cruiser is a renovated Proficient class Cruiser. She's got much heavier armaments than the old version. Looks like about 40 Turbolasers, 20 Laser Cannons and 20 Ion Cannons"

Archaras looked at the Mercenary and then asked "Luger, what exactly is the nature of your help, and when is it arriving. This knowledge is very important. I need it to plan our little assault effectively."

Then he looked about and said "And what about the Kel Dor that was with us earlier...can someone find out where he is and if he has anything to offer?"

He looked at the others and awaited a response...