Star Wars: AotFNPCs

Ranthsk was quick to slam the lever down, all things considered. Security records could be managed later, which is to say now. While he waited for his allies to catch up, he began scanning. Two things were going to be important topics of searching. He was looking for instances of jedi in the area and otherwise secure storage areas. The former was of course to find their masters, and the latter to find their lightsabers.

“Lihk, you’re better with computers than myself, I believe. Can you come over here and help me out?” he said, matter of factly. He knew how to patch a droid, and how to search a database, but this might require someone to actually hack the system, and it wasn’t going to be him that did that.

“In the meantime, I guess Leila will need to take point. I’ll be right behind her incase anything gets close. The rest of you should keep your heads down if we see anything.”

"Ooh, right behind me, Ransthk? You've really got to start listening to the Council but reining in those emotions of yours. They'll get the best of you and dark side and Sith and whatnot." Leila, however, dutifully obliged, and moved in front of Ranthsk (and, presumably, Likh in a moment) and crouched to cover the new angle of entry, which was actually somewhat easier. Just a long hallway, confirming they were on Kamino itself.

Leila inhaled and exhaled a few times, calming herself. She reached out, trying to pick up on any major "vibes" in the Force, a radiance of violence or pain, a nearby source of calmness, but she was too distracted. The world around them was rocked by a torrential deluge outside and the various emotional highs of combat from her Jedi companions (and herself) kept her from piercing further beyond and picking up on anything major. She'd have to trust in the Force to alert her if something big was coming.

Besides, she thought, double-checking the rifle as she kept it aimed at the door, finger on the trigger, my reflexes make up for when the Force let's me down. Curling one arm underneath the front of the E-5, she opened her hand and readied herself to use her favorite technique, keeping the blaster steady with the other arm and her left forearm as a brace.

She winced as adjusting her stance evoked a sharp pain from the wound in her leg, but she quickly pushed it away, mentally. Some half-weakened blaster shot wasn't about to do her in. Defiance and ferocity, rather than the calm passivity her Master would prefer, spurred on her Force abilities, and the pain subsided more quickly.

Come get some, bitch. Leila thought, pressing her cheek to the rifle. "You mouthbreathers done with that terminal yet, or were there too many big words to read at once?"

Lihk had nodded to Ranthsk in acknowledgement and scurried his way over to the control panel. Thank whoever was watching that there even was a control panel here; those force techniques were really starting to drain him. He'd have to learn how to utilize the force more effectively. Anyhow, Lihk accessed the mainframe before moving on to the cell block module, there he was stopped by a security key requirement.

Okay, he thought, most droid command centers are run by computers and droids, so their pass codes are likely to be read in serial numbers. But since we're in a Kamino cloning facility, there is likely to be extra precautions...

To see if he was right, Lihk typed in additional coding using a bypass method that not only got him through to the prison module, but removed the requirement for a pass code altogether. As if on cue to what Leila had said, he deactivated the rest of the force cages, and the massive sliding door to the cell block had opened. Though there was still the matter of someone - or some droid - monitoring the central computer and notice an unauthorized command.

"Leila, please." Lihk sighed.

Turning to face the entrance to the hallway, “Leila, is being rude your coping mechanism? I understand, you must be under a great deal of stress.” said Ranthsk, even more dispassionately than previously. He had to admit, he was pretty good at the not showing emotion thing… but this, this was to spite her. Leila needed to calm down and get her act together before she snapped and turned on them… or whatever it is she was going to do. She certainly wasn’t making any friends with this routine.

“Tell me, Lihk what do you see?” he asked, hoping for some information of whatever Lihk was doing now. Especially considering he’d already used the lever to open the cell block. Still, he assumed Lihk was doing something important right now. He just wanted to get moving by this point, it might shut Leila up for the time being.

"Ugh, learn to take a joke. You know what, fine. If we make it out alive I will apologize to each and every one of you, okay? Ugh."

A litte harmless banter and the Jedi's elite Padawans turned into sniveling bitches. Figures.

"Now, in all seriousness, let's try and hurry this up, alright? We have one weapon and the faster we can find some more Republic troops, guns, hell, anything but droids, the better a chance we stand at not dying. We might be able to turn the tide of the battle, here."

Leila wholeheartedly believed that. This was partly due to her faith in her own ability, but partly due to the nature of the battle. Something was up. Kamino was a crucial Republic world, and yet they'd so quickly and so easily been overwhelmed by a CIS attack? This screamed "LEAK" to her. She doubted it was any of her companions, rather some double-crossing fool in the army or Senate, but either way...it wasn't good. If they knew that, they might know security procedures, plans of attack, numbers, resources...all they'd need would be a few good strikes on the cloning facilities and the Republic might be out of this war.

Yet the Jedi crash landed and were, as far as she knew, likely presumed dead. They'd be first priority for any Republic strike teams on board, hell, any soldiers. The morale boost a dozen Jedi would provide alone would be worth finding them. So everyone must think they were dead. A reappearance would not alone disrupt any plans the Trade Federation generals had, but provide a nice psychological boost for their soldiers. Really, the longer they took to figure out the layout of the base, the more likely they all lost.

Figure out where our lightsabers or Masters are and let's get to it. We're going to fight our way out of here regardless, there's no point in bothering with much else.

To Leila's credit, despite the running commentary, she kept her gun readied at the door and her hand readied to unleash her concentration upon whoever stepped through the door. Hopefully it wouldn't be their Master.

"Worry not, you can save your apologies for another day. I know you mean every naive little comment you make." Lihk muttered under his breath loud enough for the lethan to hear. He was studying the computer panel just a bit longer so he could adequately answer Ranthsk's question. From what he could tell from the map and other information that was ingrained in the computer, he could tell it wasn't too far... and the security wasn't as heavy as one would figure.

This was most concerning.

Lihk decided to keep this piece of information to himself. Not only needn't he worry the others, he should by no means let them put their guards down in the least. He finally turned his head to answer the Trandoshan. "It shouldn't be too far. Just a couple floors down and a small walk over... east. We make a left as soon as we reach the floor." Lihk said.

"Our masters are suspended in stasis fields," Lihk continued. "I can't do anything from here, so we'll have to go there ourselves. This log mentions something about lightsabers, so we should probably be able to find our weapons there as well."

Now that he said it himself, this sounds too good to be true. Almost like a trap. But why would they want to trap them if they already had them caged in in the first place?

"We can make a run for it, or we can try to get there as quietly as possible."

"Quietly," Leila said immediately after Likh was done; she seemed to have become slightly more serious after Likh's quick report, and she unconsciously chewed on her lip as she thought through what they'd been told.

"We only have one weapon, not counting some of our company's natural weapons," she said, glancing at the Trandoshan's claws and the Herglic's massive size. "We'll lose in a firefight, easy. I'm better at stealth, I can try going it alone. Or we can take our chances and go together. As a larger group we might draw more attention. Your call, guys."

"We should stick together," their pilot offered. "Going separately merely increases our chances of being lost. Besides, we are all strong with the Force here, I should like to think, despite some of what I've seen." He looked both ways down the corridor, then looked at the console. "Patrols are light in between here and there; we should be fine."

Hvalna carefully squeezed his way out of his cell and took a position at the back of the group. "I'm with our pilot. They're going to find out what's going on when we let our masters out anyway."

Leila wasn't entirely in favor of being stuck with the group. For one, if they got caught, they ALL got caught. They'd need to divert their forces if they split up, and they were likely already a little occupied fighting the Republic (if the fight was still going on). Of course, Leila felt her chances were better on her own than trying to sneak with all of them tagging along, as it was much easier to distract a guard long enough for her to sneak by than it was for an entire squadron of Jedi.

But, oh well. They'd be out of this soon enough, and maybe her companions would prove to be useful for something. Chaffeur-guy had already shot down her one-woman-army plan, so she supposed she'd rely on teamwork and love and happiness and all the other stuff the Jedi insisted on.

"Alright then. In a group it is. Let's roll out. The longer we wait, the more likely they are to find us and kill us all after torturing us and turning us to the dark side after years of arduous torture."

Leila moved closer to the door, ready to strike. Whenever her teammates felt like getting a move on, that was.

Vincent was glad things had calmed down for the moment but now was the difficult part. They'd gotten out of their cells but now they needed to find their weapons and their masters. Vincent wasn't too worried about their odds though sure all but one of them was unarmed but they were a strong group of Jedi. He was sure they'd tear through any droid that got in their way. "Why would they turn us to the darkside and then kill us?"

“If there is a fight going on outside, our being spotted may even turn the tide in the Republic’s favor.”, offered Ranthsk as he turned to Lihk. “Alright, I will go first, Leila I need you to cover me if we see anything. Let Hvalna cover our rear. Lihk, guide me, and we shall begin. Let us protect the pilot, he’s done a great deal for our safety thus far, we needn’t risk him.”

Ranthsk had little else to add for now. They needed to move, and each second they waited trying to decide what to do, the battle for the planet potentially became closer and closer to unwinnable. It was then that it struck him… something that might be more vital once they found their masters.

“Lihk, did you see anything about defenses in the area? If we can knock out anti-craft batteries, we may be able to turn this capture to the Republic’s advantage.”

Lihk nodded and stayed at Ranthsk's side, guiding him along the corridor. Unless they had planned on coordinating a strategy while on the go, he figured that they were going to find it difficult to carry out their self-appointed mission. With that worry in mind, he also felt just a bit stupid about the two suggestion he brought up just before. They all had one destination with just one way to go, and only he knew it. Splitting up was... for lack of a better term, stupid. He took in the questions that Ranthsk asked and thought carefully.

"No, I would imagine not. Not in here anyways. Seeing as how this is a cloning facility, we probably shouldn't worry about turrets of any sort as it would cause damage to the infrastructure if blaster bolts were ever to go astray - the elevator should be over here, by the way-" Lihk made a motion to Ranthsk as a notification to take a turn on their left, "as for what's outside, the computer panel only gave me a map of the interior of the facility. If we walk past any doors and hear something that sounds like a cannon as big as an asteroid, we know where to stop."

"I...ugh!" Leila snarled, realizing Vincent had caught her in her own words. Rather than attempt a comeback she just hoped they'd forget about it. Idiots.

"Cover you I can do, Ranthsk, but feel free to get a few whacks at them with your pretty nails before I do all the work, now."

As they turned the corner (Leila sensing around psychically first before dropping down, spinning around the corner and aiming the laser rifle at whatever happened to be on the other side, muttering "Clear"), Leila cautiously walked towards the elevator, ready to fire on anyone who came out. Preferably not a droideka. Or droidekas.

Leila pressed herself against the wall, glancing at the elevator. Brief thoughts of being captured again ran through her head but she forced them down with a combination of disciplined will taught by the Jedi and the furious denial she'd learned herself over the years. Now was not the time to think about such things.

"Lihk, you'd better know where we're going." For a moment, Leila considered something. They'd been intercepted almost as soon as they came out of hyperspace...surely someone must have known they were coming ahead of time. And Likh was the one guiding them...

If he leads us into a trap, I'll know who to use as a meatshield. Nothing more to it.