No trouble. She drops the box off to the side. Plans?

He glances at the box, taking in the runes covering it with a darkening expression, "Damn," he mutters. He looks back to her, "That's a wardbreaker - they must have planned to drain our wards and use the power to break our walls. We would have been defenseless, caught completely off guard." He shakes his head. 

"How rested are you? Those reinforcements down the hill would be enough to severely wound us if they had broken inside the walls, but with the wards still up and the walls strong we can handle this like a siege, if we choose. My elites and I intend to go out and break that bunker quickly, before they can reinforce it more, to keep them from camping so close to our walls. After that I think we will just call for reinforcements from the nearest fort and wait them out. 

"You are welcome to join us in breaking the bunker, or not - DZ-Twelve-Q returned to your rooms after she warned us, with one of my elites to guard the door, if you would prefer to return to resting." She is his guest, after all, not a soldier under his command. And frankly, he's not sure orders would be the way to go with her anyways. 

Can't sleep with enemies so close; I'll come.

He nods, and waves up to the gatehouse above, where the mechanism to open the gates is. Slowly, they crack open just enough to let out two at a time. 

Istaim, his lieutenant, walks out beside him, both prepared for the possibility of enemy fire the moment they emerge. The mages in the bunker are being kept busy by the Cialin, however - a distraction working as planned. 

When the group gets within twenty meters, the bunker mages finally notice them, some turning to attack them instead of defending from the soldiers on the walls. It's too late by then, however - the elites have already called up and cast the first of a series of second-tier elemental attacks, directing them at the walls. Jaim enhances some water magic through the Nomad's Bow, spinning together an ice spear which he sends through the nearest mage. 

Deskyl is close behind him, staying with the group; she helps with the walls, pulling them down telekinetically, and keeps an eye out for escaping mages.

Two do so, crawling out of opposite sides of the failing bunker. Jaim aims for one of them, drawing back the Bowstring and forming an arrow of ice to fire at them. It takes them through the throat, sending them crashing back against the bunker, pinned. 

She goes for the other, running rather than leaping but still moving very quickly.

The mage can't keep up with that speed. She turns to fight, terrified, lifting the Rod in her hands - this is the only other Artefact with a mind among the advance group. The Rod draws on her partner's magic to power a freecasting, pulling up a wall of stone between them to protect her. This mage must have been the one most responsible for the bunker. 

Deskyl leaps to the top of the wall and pauses there to pull the Rod from the mage's hands, tossing it aside, and then lifts the mage herself, gently holding her jaw closed with another tendril of the Force.

She struggles, panicked, and reaches out with a thread, jutting into the ground to shoot out a stone to throw at her attacker in desperation. It doesn't move with much force - freecasting often trades power for speed. 

The pressure at the mage's jaw falls away as her captor swats the stone aside, and then reappears at her arm to break it before returning to her mouth.

She shrieks in pain, muffled by being unable to open her mouth, and falls limp, giving in. 

The bunker is destroyed, most of the mages holding it dead. The Cialin are streaming back into the fort, trying to get back inside before the Imperials can get close enough to attack. 

Jaim pauses, Istaim hovering at his shoulder, waiting for her to follow. 

Prisoner? she signs, as she approaches.

He nods, "We have cells," he says, "the walls are carved with mana suppressants, to keep prisoners from escaping." He eyes the break, "I can have a healer splint that, as well - we usually prefer not to leave prisoners with crippling injuries, if possible."

He waves her and her captive in ahead of him, and then the doors close behind them. 

"Good work," he calls out to his elites, loitering around the gates, patching injuries, shaking themselves out and wiping sweat and blood out of their eyes, "Check in with the healers if you were injured," he says, "And get some rest. It'll be a bit over a day before the reinforcements from Fort Inir get here." 

Fine, she replies to the suggestion of healing the captured mage, and goes where she's directed, keeping an eye on the fort's surroundings. With the woman settled, she checks in with DZ, is surprised to find the Blade in the room as well, and, having received a quick explanation of Artifacts from the droid, goes out again to pick up the ones discarded on the field, dropping them off next to the wardbreaker in two trips.

Jaim rushes off to join the Commander in powering up the mirror so they can contact the capitol and the nearest fort. The damn thing's huge and incredibly difficult to transport, but they're invaluable for situations like these. 

The enemy reinforcements stop on a short plateau part way up the hill, digging in and setting up fortifications.

Someone calls Jaim back when they notice her leaving the first Artefact near the wardbreaker. He leaves the Commander to finish the report in order to find Deskyl to ask about them. 

She's just bringing the second set back when he finds her, the Book and two others, and seems tired, slow to react and grudging in her movements. She sets the Artefacts down before signing to him: salvage, of the four set on the ground; person, of the Book and the Rod, unclaimed and claimed respectively. I'll talk to them later.

He nods, "We can move all of the simple Artefacts to a storage room in the CC, if that would be acceptable, along with the wardbreaker. Rest assured no one will attempt to claim any of them before you wake." 

I only claim these, she gestures at the Rod and Book again.

He nods, "Very well. I'm sure someone will find the others useful." He pauses, "Thank you, again. I know you are still recovering. Yet, your actions likely saved a great many of the people under my command." 

She shrugs, Sith, and turns to go.

Yes, he supposes, not that he knows the meaning of the word. 

He sends for someone to move the Artefacts and the ruined wardbreaker, and then makes his way back to Command. 

DZ is outside when he next leaves, sitting quietly and watching people come and go.

He pauses when he sees her. 

"Do you need anything, DZ-Twelve-Q?" He asks, concerned, "You or your companion?" 

It's entirely possible she just wished to come out to observe, but Apprentice Deskyl did seem very protective of her.

"No sir, but I thought you might have some questions for me."