The Godless Matron was once a Trade Federation battleship, crewed by countless droid workers. Since then, many sections of the ship have fallen into disrepair due to the sheer amount of manpower involved in its maintenance. As a result, parts of the central sphere of the Lucrehulk-class battleship has been left to the ravages of time and the scars of the Clone War itself.

The crew has come to refer to this section of the Matron as The Gauntlet, largely due to the danger it represents. Located in the lower regions of the command sphere, it is a crosshatched network of ruined and damaged hallways, repair bays, and even crew quarters. While most power has been shut off to this section — save for critical systems such as life support — the systems and circuitry still require occasional maintenance in order to keep the entire framework operational. Such tech runs have become a matter of betting amongst the crew, earning it the nickname: running the gauntlet.

A heavy layer of dust sits mostly undisturbed along the debris of the halls, save for the footprints of the few crew that have tread the path before. These previously walked paths are a safety net for those who venture into The Gauntlet unknowingly. It is also thought that the remaining Separatist forces staged a last ditch defense within this area of the ship, and did so by any means necessary. Many traps, ranging from explosives to spring-loaded mechanisms, are littered throughout the untravelled pathways — or even still undisturbed within the known sections. Further still, malfunctioning B1 droids and even semi-active Spy Drones remain, ready to ambush the unsuspecting observer and adding to the dangers of the dark, debris filled tomb The Gauntlet has become.

Countless perils awaited those who ventured into the furthest depths of the Gauntlet. This fact was known to the crew of the Godless Matron better than most. There was opportunity, however, when the right circumstances presented themselves. The Herald had offered safe passage and not an entirely small sum of credits to whomsoever managed to 'run the Gauntlet' successfully. The proof of such a feat lay deep within the labyrinthine halls themselves, with a banner bearing the Herald's crest waiting to be claimed.

The risks of the Gauntlet alone were enough to dissuade most, but the crew of the Godless Matron had insured that the ante, so to speak, was to be raised. Those who entered the Gauntlet would do so from varying access points, and all would gain entry at the same designated intervals until the prize was claimed.

The interior corridors fizzed and crackled, testimony that at least someone had braved the depths of the gauntlet and attempted some maintenance of the electrical circuits in the derelict Lucrehulk-Class ship. A disturbing atmosphere cloaked the entire lower level of the craft and more than a few hapless gauntlet runners had already lost their lives to the pitfalls to be found therein. A door hissed briefly as it opened and a shadow slipped inside, turning to glance at the door as it sealed behind them. Taranae cautiously stepped into the light and glanced around her at the decrepit state of disrepair. She could see most of the way down the corridor in front of her but then it seemed to split both left and right at the end, leading to mysteries that she was not totally sure she wanted to uncover.

Of course, she had heard of the gauntlet. Once or twice she had even quipped that she could easily find the Herald’s banner in the midst of all the chaos. Now she was standing here staring into the abyss, she wasn’t that sure of herself. As usual her red cloak was pulled up around her face, slightly hiding her fiery red hair from view. The hem pooled at her feet as she slowly walked forwards, checking every nook she passed for any sign of movement. Suddenly a large grate clanged above her and exploded outwards accompanied by a blinding flash. In one movement, the Sith grabbed the hilt of her saberstaff and ignited it, holding it before her in a battle ready stance. Her eyes moved from left to right rapidly as she surveyed her surroundings and she humphed to herself for being surprised so easily. She had heard tales of the traps and electronic ambushes set up in these halls and wanted to take no risks as she traversed the gauntlet.

Suddenly, her comm unit flashed on her hip.

“Tara? It’s Nessa. Are you in that damned gauntlet ship?” she asked nervously.

“I am sis. But I really need to concentrate on this, you know?” Taranae replied in exasperation.

“Yes, but I thought you should know something important. I don’t think you know some of the rules. Someone else may be in there with you.”

Taranae’s saberstaff swung quickly in a circle around her as she used it to light up as much of the area as she could. “Are you sure, Nessa? Any idea where they are?”

“No idea. There are multiple entrances to that place and they could have entered through any one of them. Be careful, sis. I don’t trust that place. Oh, someone’s coming, I gotta-”

The transmission cut off abruptly and the realisation dawned that Vanessa must have been transmitting in secret so nobody knew she was helping her sister. Taranae steeled herself and began to move forward again, headed towards the split in the corridor ahead. Holding her staff behind her to quell the light slightly, she hugged the wall as she approached and gingerly peered around the corner. The way to the left was empty with only a few hanging, sparking maintenance covers between herself and a more open space at the far end, whilst the right corridor also opened into some kind of room. As she watched, movement caught her eye ahead and seemed to cross the open hallway from right to left. She tensed and concentrated her thoughts in that direction. She could feel nothing but a faint whisper of force energy in the distance. That meant two things; firstly, someone was in here with her and was also attuned to the Force. Whoever it might be was also a Jedi. Secondly, with the energy being so distant, something or someone else was in the next room. She crept forwards slightly, keeping her saberstaff raised in front of her as she advanced, using it as a light source. There was no force sensitive in the next room according to her senses, so she assumed they could be taken out easily.

As she rounded the corner, a blaster bolt sailed past her left ear and the smell of singed hair filled her nostrils. Cursing, she threw herself forwards and decapitated a sentry droid in one swing as it raised the blaster to fire again. Now she knew that her position had been compromised and readied herself for a fight, continuing on as she unclipped the safety catches on her DL-44 blasters.

The piercing shriek of blaster fire echoed through the decrepit ruins of the Godless Matron. Even over the constant hiss of sparking electronics or the malfunctioning clank of droids still carrying out their decades old orders, there was no mistaking the noise. It was one of those few things you learned to pick out early on in life, at least if you hoped to reach a ripe old age in such a grim corner of the galaxy. It was something which quietly whispered to you; something which warned you to run, warned you to hide, warned you that you should just turn around and flee the way you came. It was a feeling Tarvitz had lived most of his life with, its constant whisper having grown into a background murmur he had long since learned to often ignore. Yet this was one of those rare occasions where he honestly felt tempted to heed it.

Stalking forwards under the orange twilight of failing glowlamps, watching his visor’s HUD hunt about the rotting metal hallways for possible threats, Tarvitz half-consciously checked the charge on his pistol. He had already known it was set to full even before he had even caught sight of the read-out, but since boarding this labyrinth of decaying metal, it had become almost second nature. The Gauntlet simply made him uneasy; so much so that had almost caught himself half reaching for his blade, or doubling back to re-check rooms he had already cleared.

It was ridiculous really, and in any other circumstance he might have been chastising himself for such an action. The corroding belly of the Lucrehulk-Class ship was hardly a place unfamiliar to him, and Tarvitz had spent the better part of the last decade hunting down such derelicts. He had lost count of the sheer number of times he had fought off vicious scavengers trying to claim a ship as their prize. Yet, despite all of this, he could not shake the intrinsic sense of wrongness of this place. It had been burned into its very walls, ingrained into the cold durasteel so many times that it all but choked out every other sensation within the Force. So much blood had been shed here, so many had met a violent, agonizing end searching for the same trophy he now hunted. Each had been killed, not with the uncaring abruptness of ship-to-ship combat, but kind of visceral cruelty only a gladiatorial blood sport could offer.

It was almost enough to make Tarvitz thankful for the distraction of someone attempting to shoot him in the face.

As he cautiously rounded into the pitch black of an unlit corridor, Tarvitz momentarily paused he felt the warning nudge of the Force. Ducking backwards, he was rewarded by the sight of two energy bolts burning through the air where his head had been moments before. Someone a few meters away someone swore loudly.

Acting on instinct, Tarvitz dropped to one knee and leaned out of cover, loosing several bolts in the direction of the voice. The three sailed down the corridor, momentarily illuminating the area as they stabbed into the wall about a shadowed figure, a woman cloaked in dark red. This was hardly the battle-scarred armoured warrior he might have expected, but he wasn’t about to argue with the skills of someone who had almost killing him.

“I don’t suppose simply walking away from one another is an option here?” Tarvitz called out as he recoiled back behind the doorway, as yet more blaster bolts hammering into his cover a moment later “I thought not.”

Concentrating for a few moments, Tarvitz waited until there was a pause between shots, before leaping out into the open and punching out palm-first with one arm. To most people this would have looked ridiculous in the midst of a gun battle, but few would have argued with the results. Ages old dust erupted into a whirlwind as a sheer wall of telekinesis raced towards his foe, slamming into her with the force of a stampeding Reek. Tarvitz heard the sound of her boots scraping against the floor as she was shunted backwards and for the briefest second, he thought this might have even been enough to push her out of the fight. Then he heard an too familiar snap-hiss echoed up the corridor as two crimson blades of searing energy sprang into life in the darkness.

“Oh hell,” Tarvitz cursed, quickly backpedaling away from his assailant.

Wondering why her saberstaff had suddenly deactivated and she had unconsciously pulled out her blasters, Taranae holstered her guns, flicked the thumb switch on her staff and re ignited it as she sidestepped out of the line of sight of her attacker. The show of power had actually taken her a little by surprise after the initial blaster attack, but she knew that she had used the same techniques on numerous opponents; fire, then charge in for the finish. She could sense the Jedi was close and she had seen a brief flash of armour as a figure had dashed into cover as she re-lit her weapon. It seemed a little odd to her as she hadn’t encountered many Jedi wearing armour and she wondered how it affected movement. Reaching out with her mind, she ensured that her foe would only see her as a limited threat, as someone weak to be defeated easily. As she did, an image flashed across her mind of control panels in a dark corridor and she glanced around, hoping to find what the vision meant. As she glanced down the hallway that her enemy was now using as cover, she spied an old, battered unit full of circuitry on the wall opposite her enemy’s hiding spot. She gestured and the panel lifted and flew across the space between the wall and the opening. With a loud clang, the panel totally covered the exit from the corridor that her foe had ducked into and Taranae held it there with her raised hand as she raced forward towards the do-it-yourself barricade.

Ka waited, with his blaster drawn as he saw the panel covering the electronics opposite him fly towards his position. He ducked instinctively and rolled backwards to avoid the impact but was relieved as it clanged against the bulkheads and held there, blocking his route. He knew at least that he was relatively safe while it held, but he wondered to himself what could be holding it there with no support. Realizing with horror that his enemy must also be skilled with the same ability as himself, he scrambled backwards and looked for a way out of the mess he was in. He spotted a console with the cover hanging slightly open and moved it aside with the barrel of his blaster. He slowly and quietly pulled it aside as he clambered in, pulling the panel across behind him. Inside was dimly lit by a few flashing lights and he hoped that the fact would put the robed figure off his scent as it looked completely normal and not out of place. He waited, as he heard the clang of the panel being removed. As he had guessed, whoever it was had indeed held it there by sheer force of will. This now posed a problem; was his foe stronger than he first thought? He felt outwards with his senses and encountered what he thought was a Force user, but only of a limited talent. He frowned slightly as his mind tried to grasp what he had witnessed before. The blades he had seen lit came from one hilt so were obviously part of a saberstaff and the powerful use of telekinesis led him to believe that his senses were wrong. This was obviously a powerful Force user and he was in a fix.

Taranae gently moved aside the panel and after having extinguished her weapon and drawing her blasters, she peered around the corner of the bulkhead to find her quarry gone. The barrels of her DL44’s roamed the corridor from wall to wall, finding no target and she cursed quietly under her breath. There was another way out of the area which she could see stretching off into the distance and the thought crossed her mind that her enemy must lay in that direction. She stepped slowly forwards and stopped, her senses screaming at her that something was amiss. She leaped backwards just as a couple of blaster bolts fired from the wall next to her and hit the space she had been standing in previously, aimed at her head very accurately. As she made sure her footing was secure a she danced back, A panel flew from the wall, hitting her in the chest and knocking her backwards. She hadn’t been ready due to the first attack and this caught her unawares. As she raised herself from the ground, she caught a glimpse of armour as her prey disappeared down the corridor before her and she jumped up quickly as she gave chase.

Unfortunately, Taranae has gone over the word cap. This match is now closed and you are both free to re-queue.

Ka is awarded 1 post worth of points.