“BREAKING NEWS! CASTLE MORNE IN FLAMES! UNTOLD CASUALTIES! WE GO LIVE NOW, TO OUR CORRESPONDANT ON THE SCENE!”- Korriban News

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Amidst a background of flames, Jack stumbled naked out of the fire, walking with Kamila on his back and Yun in his arms as wind scattered the crowd of first responders and bystanders attempting to snap photos and ask questions.

“BACK OFF!” Jack snapped, the air bursting from his roar that sent the bystanders packing.

“Out of my way! Queensguard, move!” Jessica yelled, pushing her way through the crowd. When the bystanders refused to yield, a pulse of sickly mana shot out, explosive energy that radiated from the black armored knight beside Ada.

Jack laid Yun down as Jessica slid beside her, the woman’s hands touching the bloodied body of the corporal.

“Nononono! No! Yun! Oh god girl! Please! Jack!” Jessica turned to Jack, clawing at him. “There's gotta be something you can do! Anything!”

“I… I'm sorry,” Jack muttered, taking a step back, his eyes glancing down at the hole in the woman's armor. He could mend broken bones, regenerate organs, regrow limbs… but what he couldn't do was bring someone back to life that was already dead.

Jessica slumped over her fallen friend, tears in her eyes as Ada joined Jack and Kamila slid off Jack's back to weep into her palms.

The crowd continued to take photos, indifferent to the carnage and suffering, something that irked Jack deeply to the bone.

He could feel Lilith rising, the black specter fuming with anger, their emotions stacking atop one another.

Walking forward, Jack's face morphed into a glare, his palm rising with arcs of electricity dancing around his body, and for a moment, a split moment Ada thought Jack was about to attack the crowd as they stumbled back in fear.

Yet no attack came, instead, a fog began to emit from Jack's body, shrouding the area and blocking the crowd’s view.

Several brave souls attempted to move into the fog, yet as they did so they were shocked, ionic particles coursing through the fog thanks to Jack combining his porous fog with electrify.

“What. Happened?” Jessica demanded.

“W-we…” Kamila began, sobbing before she fell to her knees. “We were betrayed.”

**** Fifteen minutes prior.***

“Keep close,” Yun ordered, Ada and Kamila walking behind the woman as Jena led the way through a darkened wing of the palace with rifle raised. “Try and stay ahead of me so I can target anyone behind us.”

“I think we should go back,” Kamila whispered, hugging Ada’s arm whilst doing her best not get in the way of the massive blade on the woman's shoulder.

“We can't, there's no telling what else is out there, we're safer staying together while Tanji handles one of the High Table.” Ada replied.

“Do you think he'll be ok?”

“Who? Tanji? He’ll be fine,” Ada stated matter of factly. “Right now the best we can do is get out of his way.”

“B-but he's alone.”

Ada paused for a moment. “Trust me Kami, he's never alone.”

Suddenly Jena stopped, halting the group as Yun approached a nearby door protected by a keycard reader.

“Shit,” Yun let out.

“What? What's wrong?” Ada asked, strolling up to the gathered soldiers.

“The door's locked,” Tyrah reported.

“Ok? Don't you guys have a key?” Ada asked as Yun took out a screwdriver and began fiddling with the keypad.

“It's not that simple. With power out we can't use our key cards or bypasses. And the explosives we have won't work thanks to tritanium bulkhead design,” Yun stated, prying the lid off of the keypad. “I'll try and see if I can conne-”

“Step back,” Ada pulled the technician back and lifted her blade, moving the massive nodachi to her waist in a backhand grip.

Her body began to glow, illuminating the hallway before she stepped forward and slashed.

“Well… that's one way of dealing with things,” Jena muttered, the blade cutting through the door as easy as a hot knife through butter.

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“After you,” Ada said, Jena shrugging and shining a light down the stairs before descending into the darkness.

“Thanks muscles,” Yun giggled, smiling as Ada rolled her eyes and walked passed.

Walking in silence, the group made their way into the stairwell, rifles raised with only the sound of their muffled footsteps echoing into the abyss.

“Where is everyone?” Yun asked, breaking the tension of the darkness. “There should have been at least one team down this corridor. Ugh. This is Gamma station all over again.”

“Please don't remind me,” Tyrah interjected.

“I'm serious. I'm getting bad vibes. How the hell are all our comms down? How did they sneak through our defenses? And where are all the other guards?” Yun continued.

“Yun, do you ever just shut the fuck up?” Jena spat.

Yun giggled. “Nope.”

“Guys, stay alert. We don't know what's down here,” Tyrah chastised.

The soldiers continued in silence, no word spoken until Jena and the rest entered into a narrow hallway illuminated by red emergency lights.

“Whatever happens. Stay close to me,” Yun instructed, handing Kamila a pistol.

The woman eyed the weapon, but ultimately took it, racking the slide before reluctantly nodding to Yun.

“Where's my gun?” Ada asked.

“Please, you're too much of a badass,” Yun replied before Jena called out through the squads shared voice comms, beckoning the trio to keep up. “Plus I only have one spare sidearm.”

Marching on, Ada narrowed her eyes, her nodachi now angled around her waist as Kamila seemed to hug her closer.

“We're approaching the third power relay now I think,” Tyrah said, a 3D map of the castle grounds emitting from her gauntlet.

“Eyes up,” Jena whispered, the group coming to an ajar metal door. “Tyrah, Yun, prepare to breach.”

The two women stacked up on the wall.

“What do you want us to do?” Ada asked.

“Stay here and look pretty, we'll call when it's clear or if we need help,” Jena said before going in after Yun and Tyrah.

“Be careful,” Ada said before turning to Kamila, the woman visibly shaking. “Are you ok?”

“Uhm. Y-yes. I can fight! I-I- just get a bit jittery is a-all.” Kamila stuttered. “I don't really like violence to be honest.”

“So, why did you enlist to join the Empire?” Ada asked.

“For money. And to be recognized as a true citizen s-so my parents could get benefits,” Kamila explained, the two sitting back as they waited for Jena and the others.

“And how are your parents?”

“Dead,” Kamila replied deadpan, looking away. “Killed in a Roland raid.”

Ada looked down, noticing the woman's balled fist.

“I’m sorry, I didn't mean to bring up painful memories,” Ada said.

“It's… ok. Jack is good at killing them. So I'm happy that he's around,” Kamila replied, her usually timid face twisted with anger.

Changing the topic, Ada stood beside Kamila and cleared her throat, her eyes focused on the door Jena and the others had gone through. “So, how did you and Tanji meet?”

“O-oh… we… met back at the academy we went to…” Kamila said, a small smile on her face as if recounting a fond memory. “He. Was very nice to me.”

“I se-”

Suddenly the duo’s conversation was broken by the sound of gunfire with Ada jolting and immediately taking off as Kamila tried to stop her.

One shot, two shot, three.

Rushing through the iron door, Ada ran down a corridor until she entered a spacious room humming with the low whine of electricity and machinery. She scanned the area, looking left and right in the darkness for her companions, eyes dancing but unable to see clearly thanks to the black that coated the room.

“W-w-wait!” Kamila let out, catching up to Ada who activated mote of light, one of her basic cleric skills to cast away the darkness.

“No…” Kamila whispered, staring in horror at the body of Tyrah and Yun, the pair lying in a pool of their own blood.

Immediately Kamila went to render aid, yet was stopped by Ada, the latter narrowing her eyes. “Wait.”

She drew her blade, noticing a thin wire on the floor that connected to a hastily placed pack of clay stuck to the bottom of a nearby machine.

Ada lifted her blade, cutting the trap wire, disabling it as a chuckle sounded.

“Awwww,” A manic voice let out, bouncing around the darkness. “And here I thought you’d dash in bravely to save your comrades. That normally works! Do you not care about their lives? Their wellbeings? Tsk tsk tsk! Guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.”

A moan sounded out from Yun, her body shifting, the woman still alive despite her gunshot wounds, her injuries from some form of flechette gun.

“Help her, I’ll deal with this,” Ada instructed, letting out a breath as she readied her massive blade.

Kamila cautiously did as told, crouching down over Yun’s body and checking Tyrah’s condition as Ada looked around for Jena, the only one missing.

Ada and Kamila shared a glance, the latter shaking her head No with tears in her eyes.

“Oh? Deal with me? You’re a million years too early to try dearie.” The manic voice called out, almost echoing. “My, you have such a big blade, are you overcompensating for something?”

Ada’s brow furrowed as Yun coughed, the woman reaching up to Kamila to whisper something.

Kamila’s eyes went wide. “WATCH OUT!”

Ada spun, the flash of the shotgun encompassing her entire view as a deafening boom hit her ears.

Her nodachi came up, the blade glowing, moving as if it had a will of its own and deflecting the flechettes in a show of sparks.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The firearm roared over and over again, Ada’s arms moving as fast as her weapon shifted, the enchanted nodachi protecting Ada from her assailant’s surprise attack.

Click.

An audible sound of an empty weapon chimed.

Furrowing her brow, Ada to lowered her blade, her eyes focusing on the woman in black armor, the only one of three that entered the room that was uninjured.

Jena Leslie, the woman glaring as she tossed her shotgun and drew her sidearm just as a jagged blade entered the edges of Ada’s peripheral vision.