Sahrai smiled--he hadn't thought of Viree's greater skill with the more focused aspects of the Force. He himself certainly wasn't much good as a healer--he was a warrior, through and through. He tried to be a diplomat, sometimes, but that was an act. He carried it off pretty well, too, but it was still not really him.

At least the subcommander wouldn't be slowing them down. That was an unexpected surprise. If she had been slowing them down, he had no idea what he would've had to do--he certainly couldn't leave her behind, but keeping her with them could have proven fatal for the entire team.

The turbolift came to a halt, and Sahrai unclipped his lightsaber from his belt. The doors opened, and to his relief, though not surprise, there was no ambush waiting for them. As he had thought, they had caught the Maedan off guard by taking down their metahuman group faster than they were supposed to.

------

Daaron felt his eyes widen as Viree healed na'Tatha. He hadn't known that Jedi could do that. Of course that brought to mind the question of how in the world a Jedi could die in battle, if they could heal themselves. It didn't make much sense to him, but he had a feeling that Sahrai had a good explanation for it. Maybe the Jedi would tell him over a cup of Caf later.

As the doors opened, he and the commandos fanned out in a rough defensive position while Ban scanned the schematics for this floor.

"Control center's this way, Major," he said to Daaron as he put his datapad away in his pack. The team moved that way, all of their sensors activated now. Fahl noticed that Sahrai had his not-all-there expression on his face--a sure sign that the Jedi was concentrating on finding out who was waiting where.

With a slight premonition, Daaron halted the group.

"Aivon, lay a few explosives down around here, okay?" he said, glancing around the hallway. There were several support pylons going through here, along with a few consoles and such. His premonitions had proved useful before, when they hadn't had a chance to lay down their explosives afterwards. They had still been able to take that base offline with the first explosives they had laid down.

Aivon glanced up from setting the last explosive for remote detonation and smiled. "All done, Leader," the commando said, closing his pack up and picking up his blaster rifle from where he had set it on the ground.

_________________

Viree13 doesn't notice anyone's reaction to what she had just done, her mind is focused on keeping the pain in her side to the minimum, and avoiding any suspicions about her condition. She follows everyone out into the hall, her lightsaber at the ready. When there is no ambush presented, she almost sighs in relief.....

_________________
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die, but have everlasting Life. ~John 3:16~





~The Mercenary A-U Gentlewoman~

Ordo looked quisically at Daaron as he ordered Aivon to put down explosive charges. Admittedly, Ordo had a bad feeling about where they were, but why put down explosives in an abandoned corridor. "Sir," he kept his head facing forwards, scanning the corridor for threats, "forgive my bluntness, but why are making Aivon set explosives here?"

_________________
Four Gods wait on the windowsill,
Where once eight Gods did war and will,
And if the Gods themselves may die,
What does that say for you and I?

Now, three Gods wait on the windowsill
Where one God's blood was lately spilled
While black tongues lap at the spreading pool
And build the strength they need to rule.

_________________

na'Tatha, along with the others, followed Daaron, hoping that Faradej still had a clear idea of where he was going.

_________________


<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

They moved through the corridors unchallenged, heading for the command center. It was more than a little relieving to not being involved in a firefight once again. In fact, they weren't even picking up other life forms in the immediate area.

Sahrai had his eyes closed, stretching his senses so as to discover where the concentrations of enemy soldiers were, when it happened. He felt a twisting in the Force, and under his feet, the floor lost its solidity. He fell through. Hitting the ground more lightly than most would, but still harder than if he had had a little bit more time to react, he glanced around while catching his breath. This looked different from the corridors they had seen before--the lighting was different, the supports were in different patterns, and it was darker.

Two more thuds announced the similar arrival of the two who had been right behind him--na'Tatha and Ordo. In Ordo's case, it was more of a crash, since heavy armor did not make quiet noises when it collided with solid floors. Nobody else fell through the floor.

Without a clue as to how the tangibility of the floor had been manipulated, Sahrai ignited his lightsaber and lifted it with the Force, intending to cut a hole in the ceiling so that he, na'Tatha, and Ordo could get back out.

The laser blade didn't do a thing. It wouldn't penetrate the metal. Sahrai felt his eyebrows lift in surprise--the only substance that could resist that well was Quantum metal, which was very difficult to make, and the process was also very expensive. It seemed the Maedan had better connections than anyone realized.

He tried reaching Daaron on the comlink, but got only static. Obviously their signals were being jammed. Regardless, they wouldn't be getting back up the same way they came down.

"Let's try this way," Sahrai said, heading down the dimly lit corridor in the direction they had been going one floor up.

---------

The Jedi fell through the floor. The Taarin fell through the floor. Ordo fell through the floor. Then Daaron's jaw tried to follow them all. What in all the Galaxies had just happened? The three of them had been ahead of the rest, and then they just fell. Hurrying forward, he tapped the floor. It was solid.

He sat back on his heels while he tried to figure out what had just occurred. Presumably, Sahrai would try to cut a way back up with his lightsaber, which would only take a few seconds.

A minute passed.

Two minutes.

Three minutes.

The Jedi must be injured, if he wasn't responding. They would have to go down to get the threesome.

Just fyi, in case you didn't know, Quantum armor is the most resistant substance known to the galaxy right now--it even resisted the Death Star Superlaser.

_________________

Viree13 felt the yank in the Force a second before the floor opened up and swallowed Sahrai, Ordo, and na'Tatha. She waiting for something else to happen, for any sign of them, and when nothing showed, she decided to 'use the Force' - literally....

Reaching out with her thoughts, she found Sahrai's mind and linked onto it. "Sahrai, what happened?.... Where are you?....." Her connection with him is weak, her energy drained almost completely from healing na'Tatha a few moments before.....

_________________
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die, but have everlasting Life. ~John 3:16~





~The Mercenary A-U Gentlewoman~

na'Tatha gasped as the floor seemed to liquify under her feet, and then she was falling, falling ... which meant that she would land fairly soon.

As soon as her feet made contact with the floor, she let her knees give way and tucked herself into a ball, rolling to absorb the shock of the fall. As she flipped into an upright position, already bringing her rifle up, it only barely began to register that she had actually fallen through the floor.

Unusual. Not good. Bad. Definitely a trap.

She kept a sharp eye out when the Jedi master tried to cut a hole in the ceiling - which, surprisingly, had no effect. The subcommander reached for her comm link, but there was no signal. Something was blocking their communications.

The Maedan had a lot of explaining to do.

"Master Faradej," she responded, keeping a loose exploratory formation with him and the commando lieutenant, "it's a trap. It's got to be - they're on to us." So the hunters had become the hunted.

_________________


<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

Ordo felt the floor simply vanish beneath his feet. He also rolled as he hit the ground, but it doesn't work as well when you are wearing heavy armor.

As he got up from his horrible landing, and very loud landing, he noted that only na'Tatha and Sahrai had fallen through with him. He kept his blaster up, "Anyone want to venture a guess as to why we were the only ones who fell through? Why not wait 'till we were all on it, or at least more of us?"

_________________
Four Gods wait on the windowsill,
Where once eight Gods did war and will,
And if the Gods themselves may die,
What does that say for you and I?

Now, three Gods wait on the windowsill
Where one God's blood was lately spilled
While black tongues lap at the spreading pool
And build the strength they need to rule.

Sahrai felt Viree establish the mental connection.

I don't know how the tangibility of the floor was altered, but we are stuck down here--the roof is quantum armor, he thought to her. At least there was some way of communicating between the two groups.

"Yeah, I'd say this is a trap," Sahrai said with a sigh. "But since I can't see a way out that isn't beyond these hallways, we might as well move on and hope for the best."

Hearing Ordo's question, he thought for a minute. It was an interesting thought, but it didn't take long to figure out.

"I think it probably has something to do with the fact that we three were in the front, and the others were spread out behind us. Apparently, it only worked on the section of floor where we were, and we were the primary targets."

He doubted Ordo was really a target--it was most likely that their nemesis wanted either him or na'Tatha, or both. He led the negotiation team, and na'Tatha was his liason with the Taarin government. Between them, they were wanted.

----------

"Fierfek." Whatever level was beneath them, it wasn't marked on the layout. When Daaron checked the distance between the floor they were on and the floor that was listed as directly beneath them, the distance was at least twice that of the normal difference. That meant that there was almost certainly another floor beneath them. Most likely, the missing trio would be ambushed before too long, if they weren't already unconscious or incapacitated and prisoners.

"Viree?" he asked over his shoulder, "can you establish a link with Sahrai?"

Maybe the unexplainable Jedi techniques would work.

_________________

Viree13 nods slowly, her eyes shut as she concentrates to maintains the link. "Yes, I've already done that..... He says the floor is of quantum metal - we can't reach him through it....." The pain in her side growing worse, she stumbles slightly, but manages to cover it up......

She opens her eyes, glancing at the blurred face of Daaron. "I think they're going to follow the hallway down there..... Presumably, it follows the same pathway as the one we're on, but it might deviate.... I don't know yet...."

_________________
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die, but have everlasting Life. ~John 3:16~





~The Mercenary A-U Gentlewoman~

"Well, if we're moving on, let's do so quickly." na'Tatha repositioned her rifle, holding it loose and ready for close-quarters action, if necessary.

The group hurried down the hall, keeping a sharp eye out for anything unusual, but stopped abruptly when the corridor ended. Two doors stood facing each other, presenting a choice. Or did danger simply lie behind both?

_________________


<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

Ordo followed the subcommander and the Jedi, acting as rear guard. Static kept washing across his viewscreen and his helmet speakers at ramdom intervals. He pulled out a holomap and thumbed the activation switch when they reached the fork in the corridor.

He pointed at where they were, "We're here, and based on where we fell through and how far we've gone, I would guess that we are under here--" he pointed an armored finger at an area above them "--however, I con't be sure as the jamming is even more severe down here. Based on this, I'd say the right door is the most likely to go where we want, unless it doubles back, in which case, were in trouble."

More static washed across his viewscreen and then it went black. At first, Ordo thought that the light had gone off, but when it became hard to breathe, he relised that his helmet was no longer working. He pulled it off, sucked in a breath, and mentaly reviewed the last reading that he had recieved. "An EM field."

"Sir, they have a fluxuating electromagnetic field down here, it increases to whatever level the equiptment can't handle. Inactive electronic shouldn't be affected, but as soon as they are activated, they will be," Ordo quickly shut down the holomap. "I wouldn't recomend igniting your lightsaber down here, sir."

_________________
Four Gods wait on the windowsill,
Where once eight Gods did war and will,
And if the Gods themselves may die,
What does that say for you and I?

Now, three Gods wait on the windowsill
Where one God's blood was lately spilled
While black tongues lap at the spreading pool
And build the strength they need to rule.

(Umm.... I need someone to interact with..... lol)

_________________
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die, but have everlasting Life. ~John 3:16~





~The Mercenary A-U Gentlewoman~

An EM field? So that explained why na'Tatha's radio, scanners, and datapads had all gone dead. The only thing she had left now was the gas-powered sniper rifle. She frowned. "Whoever's down here doesn't depend on techology, then. Or, at least, not electrical equipment." Either of those options were disturbing. If it was an absence of technology, then they must be very confident in their physical or psychic powers. If it was a different kind of technology, the possibilities became endless.

The subcommander reached for the door on the right side, ready to open it. Before her hand even touched the pad at the side, it slid open silently.

She cast a sidelong glance at her companions. They were expected, it seemed.

_________________


<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

Ordo nodded to na'Tatha words. As the door the subcommander was near opened of its own violation, Ordo brought his blaster up, though it was useless now. The corridor beyond seemed empty, but appearences could be decieving. "Ma'am, do you have a non-electronic pistol or other weapon that myself or the Jedi can use?"

_________________
Four Gods wait on the windowsill,
Where once eight Gods did war and will,
And if the Gods themselves may die,
What does that say for you and I?

Now, three Gods wait on the windowsill
Where one God's blood was lately spilled
While black tongues lap at the spreading pool
And build the strength they need to rule.