Vanelli nodded at her fellow Jedi, Anduin and slid into the gunner’s seat. “The Raptor, huh?” asked Vanelli. “I sure hope it lives up to its name.”

Details:

Originally posted on Oct 06, 2009 in Trust, Credits and Loyalty. Follow the adventures of Vanelli and her companions from the beginning, here.

They all stood waiting for someone to make a move when the other Jedi exploded into motion, throwing one of his sabers at the Sith. It was all over before she could make a move, the Sith slid to the ground as the Jedi withdrew both his sabers from the Sith’s stomach.

Vanelli released her lightsaber and returned it to her belt as the other Jedi turned to her. “My name is Anduin. I found myself here in the middle of this fight and am assisting this group in getting off the planet. Will you come with us? We must hurry. This was just an apprentice but I am sure we have not defeated all the Sith forces on this planet and I fear his master will be close behind.”

“Well fought, Master Anduin. I am Vanelli”, replied the Twi’lek. “I agree, we should get off of this planet while we still have the chance.”

Vanelli followed the other Jedi through the now open blast gate. Anduin’s claim that the Sith was just an apprentice echoed inside her head, for that apprentice had been more powerful than some of the Sith Masters she had encountered in the past.

Details:

Originally posted on Sep 15, 2009 in Trust, Credits and Loyalty. Follow the adventures of Vanelli and her companions from the beginning, here.

The trooper turned to the bounty hunter and gestured at the Nautolan working on the access panel, letting him know that the Nautolan was trying to get the gate open.

Vanelli felt the presence of an approaching Sith and spun on her heels to face the oncoming threat. Blaster fire erupted from behind her as the quick-fingered trooper unleashed on the Sith. Just as suddenly the blaster bolts were sent flying back, exploding into the area surrounding the trooper. The trooper was thrown back into the blast gate by the Sith.

Vanelli turned to check on the fallen trooper. Luckily, it didn’t look like any of the deflected blaster bolts had come back and hit him. The trooper’s injuries didn’t appear to be too severe, but it didn’t look like he would be rejoining the battle anytime soon. Vanelli looked over her shoulder to see another Jedi dueling the Sith. The other Jedi and the Sith appeared to be fairly evenly matched, but the Jedi seemed to be slowly coming out on top, having disarmed the Sith of his lightsaber.

Just as sudden as it started, the fighting stopped and the two stared each other down. The Jedi drew another lightsaber as the Sith drew back his hood and retrieved his own lightsaber with a tug with the force.

Vanelli drew her saber and ran at the Sith’s back. Vanelli used a force jump, her lekku trailing out behind her as she came down on the Sith with a double-handed chop. The Sith turned and deftly parried the Twi’lek’s attack and countered with a flurry of his own. Vanelli parried the flurry and spun to her left, sending a backhand swing at the Sith’s weapon arm. The Sith blocked the backhand and returned the favor with a kick to the Twi’lek’s abdomen, sending her stumbling back a few steps.

Details:

Originally posted on Sep 04, 2009 in Trust, Credits and Loyalty. Follow the adventures of Vanelli and her companions from the beginning, here.

“Kill the Twi’lek!” shouted a voice from behind her. She had gotten ahead of the troopers she was chasing and now they were opening fire on her. Vanelli drew her lightsaber and continued to run, deflecting any bolts that came too close.

“She’s a Jedi, spread out!” shouted another trooper, as Vanelli ran further into the promenade. “Don’t let her get away!” Vanelli found herself at the fountain, in the middle of the promenade. Thankfully, the haze and their distance wasn’t helping the aim of the Sith troopers any. She pulled a CryoBan grenade, one she had acquired from one of the fallen Sith troopers back in the alley, from her belt pouch. She threw the grenade and gave it a little push with the force, sending it towards the troopers. The blaster fire slowed, apparently the Sith troopers hadn’t spread out enough.

Vanelli ducked and continued her run across the other side of the promenade. She skidded to a stop in front of the doorway, the blasters of the Zabrak and human leveled at her.

“Waylond? Trooper?” asked the surprised Twi’lek as she looked from the Zabrak to the human. She did a double-take at the blood dripping from the trooper’s mouth and shrugged, it clearly wasn’t his.

“I hope those aren’t friends of yours,” said Vanelli as she gestured in the general direction of the Sith troopers, as she turned and deflected an incoming blaster bolt into the ground.

Details

Originally posted on Sep 03, 2009 in Trust, Credits and Loyalty. Follow the adventures of Vanelli and her companions from the beginning, here.

“I think I’ll head on over to Dren’s and see if I can find some smuggler’s willing to do a bit of gunrunning,” thought Vanelli. “The militia will need more weapons soon, with the way those new recruits are coming in.”

The sounds of shouting and blaster fire coming from the spaceport snapped her out of her thoughts. “Dren’s will have to wait,” thought Vanelli as she turned towards the spaceport.

“Out of the way!” shouted a Sith trooper as they stormed past her, on their way to the spaceport.

She estimated that at least two dozen troopers had run past her. Va’nelli crouched and drew a holdout blaster from a holster on her left thigh and fired several shots at the backs of the Sith troopers. The first shot hit a trooper square, between the shoulder blades sending him in to his comrade to the left, causing Va’nelli’s second shot to only graze that trooper’s shoulder. Both her third and fourth shots went wide. She wasn’t a great shot, but good enough to be a useful skill.

Va’nelli stood and waved as the commander yelled something undecipherable, but obviously angry. Their return fire barely missed her as she ran in to an alley off to her side. She holstered her blaster and surveyed the alley. “Great, dead end,” muttered Va’nelli as she spotted a narrow ledge high above her head. With the assistance of a dented plasteel case sitting in the corner she was able to vault herself high enough to grab a hold of the ledge. The twi’lek pulled herself up and with her back to the wall, slowly inch her way back to towards the entrance. She could hear the troopers rounding the corner in to the alley and hoped they didn’t look up too soon. Four troopers entered the alley with their blaster rifles at the ready. The first trooper signaled for two of the troopers to follow slowly and watch their backs. The two lead troopers reached the dead end and turned around in confusion.

Va’nelli dropped down into a crouch between the four troopers. Her left palm came up and the first two troopers crashed back in to the wall, knocking them unconscious. In the same moment Va’nelli spun, her lightsaber humming to life, the yellow blade taking one of the remaining troopers’ right arm off at the shoulder. Va’nelli shouldered the one-armed trooper on to his back and brought her lightsaber up to deflect a blaster bolt high. She ran the one-armed trooper through with her saber and leapt at the remaining trooper with an overhead attack, her saber sliding through the upper body of the trooper.

Va’nelli set off back towards the unconscious troopers with a grim look on her face, the saber in her right hand still out.

Va’nelli removed her cloak and tossed it aside as she ran off towards the spaceport.

Details:

Originally posted on Aug 25, 2009 in Trust, Credits and Loyalty. Follow the adventures of Vanelli and her companions from the beginning, here.

Chapter I:

A white-cloaked figure moved easily through Khemi’s twisting maze of streets and alleys, even in the oppressive darkness derived from the night’s moonless sky. Any thoughts of besetting this traveler quickly slipped away from the minds of those who would attempt it, as the coiled strength hidden in the movements of the figure identified the stranger as more than capable of wielding the large two-handed sword strapped across the figure’s back. The cloaked figure walked up the short set of wide stairs towards the entrance of a relatively large building and continued past the two guards and through the main archway.

“The cabal continues to grow increasingly careless,” thought the cloaked figure, as she drew back the hood revealing a woman with piercing amber eyes, set in a tanned face marked with the Kiss of Set, and framed by wavy, silvery-white shoulder-length hair. “The guards no longer even stop to question those that enter. I must raise this issue during the council.” Vanelli stepped through the entranceway into a large circular shaped room. Several rows of sturdy wooden benches were arrayed in semicircles along the side walls, leaving a large area free in the middle of the room.

“Hail, Vanelli!” shouted a member of the cabal from across the hall. Vanelli nodded, crossed the hall and sat down to the left of him. “How goes it this night, Riban?” asked Vanelli. “All goes well, Vanelli,” replied Riban. “Where is that old fool Tola? He is the only one who has not yet arrived!” shouted a younger member of the cabal. “Except this growing animosity within the cabal,” muttered Vanelli. “Those in favor of starting the meeting without To…” the shout became a gurgling as the young Herald grasped at the crossbow bolt protruding from his throat.

The thwack, thwack, thwack of bolts being loosed from their crossbows echoed through the hall. Vanelli instinctively ducked to the right as a dagger aimed at the base of her neck missed its target but succeeded in drawing a red line of blood across her left shoulder. In her duck to the right she noticed that her companion was dead, slumped forward with a crossbow bolt protruding through the middle of his back and out the front. Turning the duck into a roll, Vanelli drew Riban’s dagger from his left hip and with a twist of the body, aimed a vicious backhand strike towards the face of the assassin. The assassin staggered back, barely getting his right blade up in time to parry her backhand, causing him to drop the blade. Vanelli pushed the attack, knowing that her opponent had lost his element of surprise, as well as one of his blades. Vanelli pushed aggressively forcing the assassin to defend high to the right and then low to the left. “This kill is yours Riban,” thought Vanelli , as she lunged, aiming a jab at the assassins’ chest. The assassin moved to parry, but in mid thrust, Vanelli altered the path of the dagger, aiming high and to the right; she turned the blade to the left, into the right side of the assassin’s neck. The assassin slumped dead and Vanelli withdrew her blade.

Vanelli quickly surveyed the macabre scene. The screams of the dying and the smell of blood and fear permeated the air. Dozens of her fellow heralds lay dead from the initial surprise attack and several more would soon join them in their immediate fights. The remaining heralds were quickly losing ground to overwhelming numbers, each herald fighting two or more assassins. “Heralds to me!” shouted one of the surviving elders, in the midst of dodging a dagger thrust. Vanelli raised her dagger and heaved it across the hall catching the assassin in the chest as the elder brought his two-handed sword across the assassin’s neck, cleaving the head off in a spray of crimson. Vanelli drew the two-hander from her back and raced towards the elder trying to avoid slipping on the blood-slick floor. Three other heralds joined them, the other heralds unable to disengage and rapidly losing ground. “Fall back to the inner sanctum, the battle is lost,” said the elder resignedly. “I’ll hold them off.” The heralds ran for the opposite wall as the elder began chanting, calling upon the powers of his god Xotli. The heralds pushed open the door to the passageway leading into the inner sanctum of the brotherhood. The remaining heralds closed the door behind them and ran down the dimly lit corridor as the elder fully transformed into an avatar of Xotli.

The four surviving heralds emerged in a small dark chamber with a large altar devoted to Xotli at its center. A relief carving of Xotli appeared on each of the altar’s four faces. Vanelli placed two fingers into the mouth of the carving on the front face of the altar and flipped the hidden switch. A short grinding of stone revealed a set of stairs set into the ground behind the altar. “We split up the instant we come out of the other end of this tunnel; we now go into hiding.” said Vanelli as the heralds descended into the darkness of the tunnel.

End of Chapter I.