258. Sith Academy - Trychon

The four apprentices grabbed their lightsabers simultaneously and paused before they all seemed to realize at the same time that Eiron knew what he was doing. They were severely outmatched here... even in the former home of some of the greatest Sith the galaxy had seen. Pulling extra strength from them would not make them masters of the craft.

They bolted out of the room away from the third master, and down the hall. Trychon was slightly in front of the others and had started to pull away and around the corner when a blast shattered the wall next to him. He was thrown helplessly into the corner of the hallway, a few fragments of rock piercing into his torso.

Tyrrazapon was the first to him. Trychon lay on the ground for a moment unconscious before his eyes fluttered slowly open. Tyrrazapon was already lifting him up. Raezyr turned the corner to find himself facing a ragtag group of what seemed to be mercenaries or bounty hunters.

"The Triad IS here afterall..." The man in front exclaimed. "500 creds each will more than pay for our trip out here. To think some thought us foolish for taking on this job... afterall, how could a few men with guns take out the targets that the lightsabers of the council are trained on?"

"News for yous guys. Your magic tricks don't stop explosions." The man to his right said, arming another grenade and tossing it at them.

"Just the devices that cause them." Raezyr said, with his arm extended toward the grenade hovering feet in front of the man who threw it. They stared at it with fear coming across their faces as they watched it blink twice and then tear them apart.

Anya came around the corner to see Raezyr shrugging off the heat from the blast. Tyrrazapon brought Trychon around last. They pressed on, meeting no further resistance in the building.

Outside was a different matter though, as two groups of Republic soldiers were camped out... one directly in front of their ships, and another halfway there.

"HALT!" The commander of the closer group shouted, as the soldiers raised their weapons and trained them on the Sith.

"I suppose it's too late to try and trick them into not seeing us?" Trychon mumbled. "I can stand, dammit." He said a bit more forcefully as he took his weight off of Tyrrazapon.

"Like hell..." Anya started, before catching a look of ice from Trychon.

"It's too late to convince them to look away, I'd wager..." Tyrazzapon changed the subject back.

"Maybe," Trychon said. "But what about that? He pointed to the grenade Anya had picked up off of one of the mercenaries and hooked to her belt.

Trychon stepped forward gingerly and pulled his lightsaber back out, igniting it. Raezyr and Tyrrazapon did the same, shielding Anya from view as much as possible, following his lead.

The soldiers seemed to figure that they weren't going to halt at that point, and opened fire. The distance between them made the threatening shots easier to pick off, and they didn't have any problem holding them off while Anya reared back and chucked the grenade over them, staring at it, and projecting an image of nothing.

Tyrrazapon stepped behind Raezyr and concentrated on the airborne weapon and helped it bounce and roll before settling into the dead center of the enemy formation.

Their efforts seemed to work, with one soldier in the back starting to yell "GRENA..." before the concussion sent them flying.

The four began closing the gap and cut down the soldiers who had so nearly survived the encounter, while the next group began firing on them and marching forward.

They were starting to speed up toward the Sith when a large blast caught them from behind.