Walking down the ramp and stepping foot on the soft, cushioned earth, Aleena looked about her as she came to a stop among the group. Scanning the tree-lines for signs of movement above and beyond the expected shuffling of local wildlife, she took her lightsaber in hand but left it deactivated.

"Very well Gentlemen," she began as she pulled a palm holo-reader from her belt and once again checked over the co-ordinates.
"You heard Agent Skursir. We are to head due north-west, scouting the area as far as the rendezvous point and then link back to the ship so the rest of the group can advance. Stick together, move low and fast and keep to the treelines; we don't need to advertise our whereabouts more than we already have."

As the group readied to move out she took one look back at the ship and nodded to nobody in paticular before continuing.

"Keel, Thumb, remain ahead of us by no more than ten meters, your sensors here could prove an advantage at penetrating the foliage and our most likely early-warning system."

Turning to Darth'Ishad she said in a slightly softer voice:

"As we entered real-space I felt a shift in the Force. Did you detect it? it was very faint. If I sense a disturbance in the Force I will inform you immediately. I would appreciate it if you did the same."

Then addressing the group in general:

"If we encouter hostiles avoid contact if possible but use lethal force if necessary, should it look as though our position may become compromised."

"Okay, move out."

One of the Padawan's lekku snagged on a branch. He quickly ripped it off, a slight crack was made. It was only after a few seconds that he spotted what must be the passangers of the ship. Two heavily armoured individuals walked forth followed by two other people dressed in typical force user garb. What was this? A Republic envoy? Klahn took a deep breath of the air, he could smell the corruption around the two force-users. Sith!

Without hesitation, Klahn brought his lightsabre to bear. His teacher, Master Darnas told him that he was masterful with a blade. Indeed, he had bested each and every one of his peers in combat. He could more than handle a couple of weak, inferior Sith cultists and their warrior pets! He would bring their lightsabres as trophies and show everyone that he had stopped an invasion. He would become a knight! Ah! The thought of it!

With a war-cry and a twist of his hand, a long purple blade extended from the lightsabre hilt and in the same breath, he called upon the force, pushing down upon the ground and leapt with un-natural dexterity into the face of the nearest Sith henchman. He was a helmeted humanoid wearing heavy armour and a jet pack. Klahn brought his lightsabre over his head to make a two handed strike down upon the invader - surely nothing could stop this onslaught?

Location: Forest of Tython
Terrain: Dense vegetation with several small clearings
Transmission Proximity: 9.5 miles

A vast flat expanse stretched in front of him, it felt familiar like an imprint had been put upon that transcended mere words, he took a step forward and his foot came to rest a few inches above his naked feet sloshing around his ankles.
Some primal fear took hold him, he tried to run... get out of the water before he sank.., he willed himself to move but the water was dense far to dense to be real, some thing brushed his foot and he turned around.
Ral'fach lay listlessly in the water his blood leaving a trail as it floated behind him, he reached out for him trying to save him but the ocean gave way and his leg sank into it, he fell through it now, like it was nothing, rushing up past his chest.....

Jylan opened his eyes but didn't move, he was sat on his suitcase with his head against the wall, he forced his brain back in to operation as he tried to distinguish who the faces he didn't recognise belonged to, ah yes the Sith.

His skull ached, he'd been resting on his horns again, he stood up realising faces where missing, a fresh breeze was rolling into the ship which felt good against his skin, they must have made land fall and he'd slept right through... not good.

He headed for the exit to find Skursir he needed to know what was going on....

Skursir was waiting by the communicator, listening in to see if everything was alright. He could hear some rustling and thudding, but nothing important yet. His eyes caught movement to the side and he turned to face Jylan. The zabrak must have been sleeping, he looked tired and slightly nauseous, planetfall had not done wonders for him. Skursir discarded his headpiece to talk to the combat engineer.
"It'ss okay, Jylan. We're jusst sscouting forward now, you can go back to ssleep if you'd like..." Skursir said with a smile.

Keel's first-hand impression of the planet when he stepped off the transport's ramp into the daylight was a hard to ignore feeling of relaxation. His concentration was still sharp, but the killer instincts he'd developed and learned to trust detected no immediate danger. Even though the view through his visor was digitally augmented and tinged blue, the faint sweet smells of nectar and sap carried on the breeze reached his nostrils through the helmet's atmospheric filters, and clearly told him of this place's untouched beauty as much as any view. Of course the visor's HUD displayed an analysis of the air's mass and chemical composition and listed an absence of industrial pollutants with 94.23% of airborne particulates of organic origin, but that wasn't the point.
He nodded once to confirm understanding Aleena's instruction then began leading the small scouting party out of the clearing and into the forest in a northwesterly direction.

They group ventured away from the landing site and his suit's sensor began to pick up more smaller animal life readings and as they penetrated further into the forest Keel noted the proximity of the readings as being unusually close to them before eventually moving away. The party weren't being particularly quiet in following the narrow game trail they travelled. He could only assume the wildlife of this planet had evolved without any ascendant predator and had never learned a fear of man... Or they had forgotten.

The smells of the shady forest were rich with loam and Keel's heavy footfalls were softened by the mossy earth as they made their way roughly westward. The sounds of bird calls were now a pleasant persistent background to their mission. He suddenly stopped holding up a clenched fist.

“One medium-sized life form detected seventy-three meters north, northwest moving towards our position. Type is unconfirmed but movement patterns indicate sentience” he reported to his companions.

Aleena asked in a low but carrying voice “You can't tell what it is?”

“The scanner's having trouble penetrating that far into the vegetation; once we get closer I should get a fix” He explained. With no further life forms appearing on the sensor's readout, Keel indicated to the group and slowly resumed his advancement.

“Life form target now fifty-five meters from our location and still closing. Target confirmed as humanoid” He unslung his heavy blaster but did not turn to face the group as he said “I suggest we spread ourselves out further, Chief”

After Thumb attached his breathing mask, he prefered to wear to partially hide his face and adjusted his wrist-attached device to scanning mode, he got off the ship. Immediately sharpening senses, a various sounds overwhelmed his brain. He stood there motionless, dividing the sounds to avoid confusion later. Even he was taken by tranquility of this place, untouched by any sentient spieces. His concentrated state was disrupted by a voice in his commlink. Aleena's instructions. After hearing them, he joined Keel in the front and they started to advance.

Moving through the forest, Thumb never let his senses down. With wrist blades detached, ready for any danger, he was pointing his big eyes in every direction in front of them.

Getting further, his scanners started to pick movement. Immediately, his companion Keel reported it as well. Visions of battle, blood and violence were appearing in his mind, visions he embraced in.

"I will try to outflank the source of the movement as soon as I'll see an opening." said Thumb via commlink, " My blades are powered with electricity, single successful hit will send out a charge capable of complete muscle failure. Increasing the intensity of discharge will lead to heart-stop."

As the readings on scanner were getting closer, he maintained battle stance. Anxious for any possible bloodshed. " Just tell me if you want it dead or only disabled Chief."

"Yes i felt it, and of course, ill share any discovery i find or feel with you."
He replied

As the group ventured off into the unkown forrest, the two agents in front picked up a life form.

Darth'Ishad paused lifted his head in the air a tad, and tried to catch the scent of what ever it was. Then before he could catch it he looked to Aleena,

"Do you feel it?"

Moving up into the cockpit he came across Skursir sat at the controls, Skursir was a Trandoshan and a perfect example of why you should never judge a book by its cover or or basically a lesson for Jylan on why not to be a speciesist, he'd never trusted or liked Trandoshans before, always spitting and hissing in their unnatural way, they were also renowned for their violence but Skursir was the ultimate professional and one of the only people he'd truly clicked with since his arrival in EPOCH.

"It'ss okay, Jylan. We're jusst sscouting forward now, you can go back to ssleep if you'd like..." Skursir said with a smile.


[i]“I'd never sleep on the job”, he said with a grin, “Anyway if you've sent out the scout party I should be working as well”[/i], he looked out the cockpit viewport at the planet they were now on, he always liked it when he slept through a journey and woke up somewhere new, it always left him slightly in awe.

“You always take me to the nicest of places” he said looking at the lush environment outside, “I'll go set up the communications decryptor, this place doesn't look inhabited but we'll see what it can pick up”, he patted Skursir on the shoulder and moved down into the hold.
Shuffling over to cargo storage he pulled a large metallic case from the wall and took it over to the exit, again breathing in the the fresh air from the planet Jylan felt more alive then he did cooped up in space ships or living in the constant fumes of Coruscant.
Flipping open the case he pulled out a connecting wire and plugged it into one of the on board communicator ports so the data would be sent up to the bridge and turned on the machine, the screen lit up and began its automated scan of all the local transmissions, “Its all set Skusir just let me connect dish to the communications array” he shouted up the stairs.
Pulling the array extension from the case he steeped out onto the still warm hull which was steaming in the humid environment and pulled himself up onto the roof, the array was too sensitive to be attached through planet fall and needed to be attached each and every time they landed. “We need a better ship” he mumbled as he connected it to the clump on antennas attached to the hull, he walked over to the front of the ship and stuck his head in front of the view port, “You getting anything S!?”

"Do you feel it?" Darth'Ishad said in his quiet, confident voice and Aleena was just about to reply when the familiar sound of a light-saber being activated could be heard followed by the sight of a twi'lek leaping from within the undergrowth.

"Take Cover!" she yelled into her communicator in an attempt to make both Eamonn and The Thumb scatter and assume more defensive positions but their over-confident attacker was moving with increased speed and had already covered 90% of the distance in one leap and was heading straight for Keel.

Eamonn was fast as well-trained, but his next movement was liable to be a dodge; being on the end of a light-saber was not preferable for anyone.

Unclipping her own lightsaber from her belt, it lit up with an eerie red glow and characteristic hum.

"Take him alive," she contiuned calmly into the communicator. "We need information."

At the same time she lifted her other hand and unleashed a wave of Force energy in an attempt to knock their opponent back before he hit the forest floor.

Jylan dashed off to work with his specialist equipment. The man would have made a good smuggler - fast on his feet, good with ships, and women too. Skursir remembered when they had first met, the man had a female companion, whatever happened to her, the Trandoshan didn't know. She was probably whipped up by another man.

For a time, the bridge was quite. Faint murmers and sounds were heard coming from the hold. His employer, Creed, came in, he too looked tired though with enough energy to make an order. "I'm ssorry ssir, we do not sseem to have any refreshmentss other than water and carbohydratess...". Skursir said emotionlessly, hoping that the man wouldn't hold it against him, he was probably used to good service, not recognising that his employer had made a joke.

Before Creed could reply, static started coming in from the ship's communicators, though not the ones linked to the scout team. Jylan must have succeeded in hooking up the decryptor, although as expected - nothing. No, wait. Something faint was coming in.

“You getting anything S!?” The Zabrak shouted through the view port. Just then, words became clear.

"Uni..ntifyable Tran...zzz...essel land...zzzzz...iles south ea...zzz...emple ..zz.. Guiding Light. Reque...zzz...ilable guar...zzz...e on the look...zzzz.. more Twi-lek ...zzz... Report to ...zzz... arnas if ..zzzzz..thing. Be on guard ...zz...may have ..zzzzzzz... do wi..zzzzz...urbance ..zzzz... Kurnos sensed."

The transmission cut out there, the speakers rumbling back to static. "Check the frequency for any more messagess" Skursir told the Bothan captain. The Trandoshan nodded over to Jylan who must have been listening, or at least trying to through the view port.

What had the words said? Someone must have seen them, which means that they aren't alone in this forest. Guiding Light. Was that a metaphor? And what had this to do with Twi-leks? They had been told to be on guard though so they new that someone was coming. Better tell the scout team. Skursir opened up a communications link: "Sscout team, look out for guardss, ssomeone know'ss we're here". Almost immediately, there was a loud, "Take Cover!" from Aleena, perhaps it was too late.

"What'ss going on over there?!" Skursir yelled down the communicator with a rasping hiss.

Location: Forest of Tython
Terrain: Dense vegetation with several small clearings
Transmission Proximity: 10 miles

---------------------------------------------

Klahn had almost reached the warrior before he was thrown back by the force. It felt like a whole weight had been swung into his side, but no matter, he quickly leapt up and started pounding towards the person who had delt the blow, a Sith Witch wielding a red lightsabre blade. A slave driver to the force if he ever saw one. With yet another cry, he swung his own lightsabre horizontally aiming at the woman's waist.

Location: Forest of Tython
Terrain: Dense vegetation with several small clearings
Transmission Proximity: 9.5 miles

Upon hearing the scream of the attacker and gaining visual, The Thumb made a series of quick movements in a circular pattern to outflank the hasty lightsaber-bearer, possibly attacking him from the back when chance would appear.

As Aleena ordered to, he set his wrist blades to disabling discharge only, to prevent killing the target. He prefered this choice, because thinking of latter torture and blood when possible interrogation would appear cheered him up and strenghtend his resolution to strike perfectly.

Expecting that Siths wouldn't let him attack so easily, he waited. A massive force wave had the incautios twi'lek knocked back strongly, but he decided for yet another mindless attack. To this point, The Thumb had been watching for an opportunity very closely.

The opening was clear, he was too concerned with Aleena, that he seemed to forgot about others. That's when The Thumb turned his stealth field generators and decided to make a quick dash from a side, possibly crouching at the very last moment. With blade aimed at his back, specifically the spine. His other blade, covering the twi'leks striking arm. Wrist blades, were made from Mandalorian iron, so he was hoping that they could withstand some punishment from a lightsaber if needed.

Keel, blaster rifle raised and ready, observed the highlighted and outlined target through his visor's tactical display which was moving steadily through the undergrowth towards them. It paused for a moment then a wild cry pierced the air as a lightsaber was activated and the target leaped towards him with unnatural agility. A split second later Aleena's voice warned over the comm, “Take cover!”.

Tracking the attacker with his rifle in it's arial assault, Eamonn barely hesitated before obeying his Chief's order. “Take him alive” she added as Keel tensed ready to move. The airborne aggressor brought his lightsaber to bear in a sweeping overhead attack as Keel ducked and rolled to the side feeling an eerie pushing clip his shoulder upsetting his dive. Immediately regaining his feet he remained in a crouching position and watched as what he could now identify as a Twi'lek Jedi of some type, crash to the forest floor, repelled backwards a few paces from where he and his blow should have landed.

Keel watched as his companion known as 'The Thumb' activated a stealth unit and after that hadn't a clue what that one was up to. As the Jedi lay sprawled on the fallen leaves Keel made a quick check on his other companions status and saw that Aleena had her own red lightsaber extended and was ready for the Twi'lek who had already collected himself for a charge towards the woman.

Again, Keel tracked the target with his blaster rifle but remained ready until ordered (or otherwise prompted) to intervene. The helmet's visor hid his grin as he watched the Jedi begin his attack. This should prove educational, he thought to himself.

Bringing the glowing red blade into position to meet the Jedi's onslaught, Aleena watched his movements as he charged her with renewed vigour.

He showed a lot of agression for a Jedi, an angry passion burned in him and he had hate in his eyes; he meant for her death if he could achieve it - hardly fitting for one of the Jedi Order....

The Dark Jedi had to stiffle a slight grin as she came to a realisation: the way the Twi'lek handled the blade, his movements and focus...he was using Shii-Cho. the first and most basic form of lightsaber combat. It all made sense now: the brash attack, the sweeping movements and overconfidence... this one was a Padawan Learner!

Aleena herself knew many of the Lightsaber fighting forms, some at a more basic level than others; but her old Master - Neabel - had painstakingly taught her the very complex and refined Juyo Form over the last sixteen years and it was more than a match for this Younglings' over-stretched posturing.

At the very last moment she changed her stance and calmly brought her blade up to meet his in a clash of sparks mere inches from her waist line, calmly fixing the frowning Padawan with an icy stare.

"I wouldn't," She said matter-of-factly. "Even if you were somehow to best me, young Padawan; the others would cut you down where you stand. Two snipers are at your back and several more are in the tree-line. Even the greatest Jedi cannot deflect that many unseen blaster bolts."

Holding the two blades in place, a slow wicked grin spread across her face.

"...and my colleague behind me is far more unforgiving than I." She tilted her head toward Darth'Ishad as she spoke, never once taking her eyes off the Twi'lek.

She had seen The Thumb dissapear and could not tell his exact whereabouts but knew from previous experince working with the hunter that he would be close, lining up a "killing shot". Keel was poised and ready, only Darth'Ishad was an unknown quantity but she suspected he would more than live up to his companions respect. The Twi'lek would be insane not to stand down.

Yet he was young, and the young are impulsive...

Klahn's blade was parried, the woman was good enough with a blade, but now she was taunting him with her warnings and threats. She nodded her head over to the other Sith, but the Twi'lek knew better than to break concentration. He leered at the near-human, bringing his face closer. "You don't deserve the force," and he spat in her face, then bringing his lightsabre over for an overhead strike. He was aware that there was only the one warrior behind him now, the other must have ran - and rightly so. He was the best.

Vaelyndor only half heartedly listend to the chatter between the ships crewmates as they went about setting up a communications array. Gazing out of one of the ships small, circular, viewports the lush vegetation surrounding them seemed quite unnatural and alien to the young warrior. His home planet of Rhen Var as well as Korriban, the planet on which he now spent the majority of his time, were devoid of such abundant plant life. Before his thoughts could dwell long on the matter, a burst of static masking a broken transmission could be heard from the ships speakers. The Executor had suspected an organized presence on the planet, most likely the origin of the transmission they had received or perhaps in search of it.

Closing his eyes, Vaelyndor turned his focus inwards and visualized all the information he knew about this operation, trying to form a clear, coherent picture out of the chaos. Shortly into his meditation, he felt a disturbance in the Force. Once more redirecting his thoughts outward, he focused on the distant presence of Darth'Ishad. After a few moments, the warrior walks close to Sharasvar, "Darth'Ishad and the scouting party have come under attack by a Force user." The Executor gives a slight grin, "The plot thickens."