Hallways of the Praxeum

[Dav Man'Sell]

*The interior of the Praxeum is constructed out of the same stone as the outside façade and there are many stairs leading off into dark hallways. Small squares, where several hallways come together, serve as the hub for foot traffic throughout the academy.*

[Ander Tagira]

1: "Idiot Jedi…"

[Ander Tagira]

1: Children

[Ander Tagira]

[Ander Tagira]

[Ander Tagira]

[Dav Man'Sell]

Within the sleeping chambers of the Praxeum, as events begun to unfold, some begun to stir. The deaths that sent echoes within the Force, conflict within the chambers of the entrance hall, the cold aggression of the attacking forces, the blazing energies of Cheva Bestola, in the fight of her life. All upset the normal rhythms of the Force, all of them pinged on the edges of Jedi consciousness. One hypersensitive youngling awoke in a start, and, alarmed by the odd sensations, curled up a little smaller, and tried to ignore the strange, upsetting impressions. And the older, wizened veteran, the grey bearded, bald-headed tutor that oversaw the Tauntaun clan, turned restlessly in his sleep, his mind not yet realising that the sensations he picked up did not emanate from besieged Yavin, nor did they echo in the Force from some undetermined future, but from now, from the moment he existed in.

Soon, though, he'd know. Soon enough, they'd all know.

Dezel moved swiftly through the corridor leading from his chosen entrance, his mind set on one, immediate destination - a small security sub-station, little more than a room with a computer terminal, display screen, and a caff-brew in the corner - that sat just ten meters around the corner. It was rarely manned, serving as little more than a stop off point for guards when they grew tired of circling the perimeter of the Praxeum grounds, and today was no exception, as he could sense clearly that no-one occupied the room. But it would serve his purposes.

He ducked into the room, closing the security-door behind him, and went instantly to the terminal. His hands raced across the input keyboard. The screen came alive, bringing up the security protocols, and, half his mind still on reaching out in the Force, sensing his surroundings, he begun tapping in commands --

He stopped, half way through entering a command code, when he saw the oddity before him.

=Dezel Rostu=


There it was, in the manual-entry security coding - a system most wouldn't even bother dealing with, but one he defaulted to, simply because of his technical expertise. And there, in the running protocols list, was a non-standard script.

And as he looked closer, he saw several non-standard scripts, all running at the top end administrative level.

Someone was accessing their security systems. Someone had control of their security systems. And that meant a lot of trouble.

The slight sound of a small explosion - he hoped, his plan being brought to fruition by Boron - echoed down the corridor from the side entrance, but he stayed where he was, focused on the new problem before him. He was a skilled technician, competent working with both hardware and software, but getting around the coding that had been sliced into the Praxeum's security systems - and indeed, getting around the full layers of defence of the security systems themselves, even with his knowledge of it, and even without the infiltrated coding - was more than a few steps beyond his skill. He wouldn't be able to over-ride the commands. His only hope was that he could find a system they hadn't accessed, figure out how to use it to his advantage, and then use it quickly enough that they wouldn't see his work until it was too late.

They won't be able to see my access at the moment. That will all change, though, just as soon as I start sending command line coding to the central hub. I'll have only a matter of seconds before they're all over me.

What mattered now was finding something they didn't already have control of, but as he scrolled through the list of running parameters, his hope dwindled. Communications, security cameras, remote turrets, even...

=Dezel Rostu=


The YVH droids were a challenge even to a Jedi, built as they were to the highest standards of combat-ready droid. If the Praxeum's small cache of YVHs were in the control of their attackers, then they had a small on-site army at their disposal, and that would be a very real problem, a very, very real problem, for the Jedi in defending the Temple.

He tore his eyes away from the command-lines for the droids. It was something he would have to revisit later, but for now, there was nothing he could do about that either. He had to rouse the Praxeum. He had to get the Jedi on their toes. He had to find something that the Mandalorians hadn't deemed important enough to over-ride, or something so simple, that there really was nothing to over-ride.

Something that will wake everyone. Something that will get the Jedi on their feet. Something -

He sat upright in the chair, his eyes snapping away from the computer system. He turned his head, looking to the wall behind him, opposite the terminal.

Bingo.

[Ander Tagira]

"Osik."
::Soviet, we've got a problem. Someone's accessing another terminal, but I haven't been able to pinpoint it yet. I'm trying to slow them down with junk code. Finish getting your traps set up, I'll need you to track this person down and stop them.::
::Sure thing, mate. Give me just a few minutes.::

[Dav Man'Sell]

There was another explosion, slightly more muffled than the previous one, from outside the walls of the Praxeum as Dezel came up out of his seat, his mind now turned away from the security terminal he'd been accessing.

Boron must be fighting our sniper now. He won't be alone for long.

Dezel left the other Jedi to his battle, for he had one of his own to fight against this mysterious slicer that had affected their security systems. As he darted across the room, he steeled himself not only for that battle, but for victory.

The Jedi Sentinels were a special breed of Jedi Knight. In the traditions of long ago, when Jedi specialisation was more rigid and absolute, the ignition of their distinctive yellow blades was often the first time that it became patently apparent that the spacer, technician, slicer you were just squaring off against was a Jedi Knight, and it usually came far too late to do anything about it. The skills of the Sentinel went beyond the Force abilities of the Consular, went past the martial mastery of the Guardian. They were the engineers, the artisan craftsmen, the coding geniuses, the forensic experts of the Jedi Order. Their skills allowed them to work with the technology and equipment supplied to them to it's greatest effect. The artificial was theirs to command as they would, and they could achieve great things with it.

On this occasion, Dezel pulled the Fire Alarm.



The Fire Alarms of the Praxeum weren't run through the main computer. They operated on their own circuit, through their own processing equipment, using their own coding. Shutting them off when they had been activated required the use of a manual, mechanical key, and the mechanical key was locked away in a small key locker in an otherwise unremarkable corner of a smaller side-office of the main security suite - save when it was actively in the possession of the on duty security personnel, as it was on this occasion. The result was that no-one could turn off the Fire Alarm before it sounded, no matter how quickly you reacted to the Alarm being pulled. It was designed that way, quite purposefully.

The Fire Alarms were also not subtle. The alarm sounded as a loud klaxon, beacons in red flashed brightly, an automated voice recording, guided by a simple AI, instructed people within the Praxeum to evacuate, and which exits to avoid in the case of detected fire or hazard. As there was no detected fire or hazard by the alarm systems, that meant all exits. That meant every door not protecting restricted areas was automatically unlocked. That meant every turbolift door opened. That meant every available emergency light came on.

And that meant the Praxeum woke up. Woke up, and felt the death throes of those that had been killed by the Mandalorians, hanging in the Force around them.

[Ander Tagira]

::All units, it's Tag. Slicer activated the alarm system, you'll have Jedi flooding the Temple soon. I'm sending them your way and calling for reinforcements.::
"It's up or down, mates."
::Admiral Cayne Tristan, this is the GALSAF Black Operations strike team on the planet's surface. The Jedi have been altered to our presence. Our ambush at the entrance of the Temple has been set. We require reinforcements immediately.::

::We've been monitoring your freqs, we're two minutes out.:: ::Larty-Bee-Oh-Two, I'm diverting you from the Temple. Locate codename "Hoover." He is being pursued by a Jedi and needs assistance.::