A Light in the Dark | Galactic Alliance Hex Dominion of Tython

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Darth Isolda"]


Flesh Raiders! Flesh Raiders everywhere! They were aggressive, hasty, dumb and angry. This was an unpleasant combination, especially since they were quite quite strong. At least they weren't Bando Gora Reavers. See, after fighting the Chaos cultists so many times, Kaida was tired of dealing with them. At least they hadn't been revived again...yet.


Regardless, the Angelii engaged the insane cannibals. Some of the aforementioned beasties had blasters. This was annoying. Primitives were not supposed to use sophisticated weapons. They were supposed to mindlessly death charge entrenched, firearm-wielding forces and get mowed down.


Anyhow, as her group came from the flank to envelope the beasts and provide support for Askari's Wing, the Seraph's yellow lightsabre flared into existence and Soresu ensued, parrying and sometimes reflecting blaster bolts that got tossed her way. She saw that Askari was, as usual, in the thick of things, slicing and dicing with her Sarix or bashing them with her Taegis shield.


As Kaida's blade carved through a tossed spear, she felt a prickling through the Force, then a bestial howl. Askari's blade had cut across a beast's leg, but the monster had managed to bring her down and was wildly attacking her with its massive claws. Reacting quickly, the Seraph drew upon the Force and raised a bunch of small pebbles.


Yes, pebbles. Siobhan would have done something obscene and over the top with AOE TK spam, but Kaida thought that wasteful. The aforementioned pebbles were propelled with the velocity of a railgun shot and pierced the beast's arteries. Askari managed to roll aside just in time before it could collapse on her.

 

[Cortana Jade]

Objective B: Redemption.
Location: Far end of Valley from Lilliane's team

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"] | @Elmont Block

His head snapped in the other direction when he saw the spear pierce the ground from the corner of his eye. Then the fire came from a distance ahead. He reached behind him and gripped one of his guard shoto' in his right hand. With a simple press of the activation button his weapon came to life, spouting yellow fire.

He turned his head back to the area they'd already covered. A few more had emerged from behind them, along with smaller fires.

"These fires are signals eh?" he thought to himself.

He began to spin his weapon at the perpendicular hilt, and the rest of the blade spun around in a circular formation as he forced his right arm across his body. Instantly the smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils as he his blade cut cleanly across stomach of one of these beings. Just then he twisted his body and brought his left leg around to kick another across the face.

"These things stink..." He said out loud.

 

[Elmont Block]

Post 6

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td7lCCO9aaQ

“Not every Journeyer will complete their Great Journey. Some will fall victim to Tython’s many dangerous landscapes or creatures. Some will lose themselves. Some may even lose their way in the Force and leave Tython far behind, scattering out to the system, lost in a much more fundamental way. But as Je’daii we must accept this, because this is not an existence of absolutes. Life is a challenge, and facing that challenge is what makes the good great.”
– Master Deela jan Morolla, 3,533 TYA

Elmont marched hard for the next two days. In the afternoon of the third day in the desert, he saw curved rock spires rising from the landscape far ahead. He knew they historically marked the location of Qigong Kesh. And he accepted the journey to the rocks would not be as swift as his eyes told him. For as the desert steals sound, so its dry, scorching atmosphere also muddles distance.

When he finally arrived, he was hungry, tired and not a little disoriented. The silence had become a great weight and solitude felt more acute with nothing to see and no sounds to hear. It was by description the same as Meditation but in reality nothing like it.

But at the sight of the giant rock spires, where the mysterious Tho Yor would have once floated between them, Elmont wondered what he might find – if anything.

The temple was below ground in a network of natural caverns and tunnels. As he passed within the shadow of one of the massive rock spires, he spotted an opening and entered.

Finally he sat and took a drink from his canteen. Here, in a huge cavern, once lay the majestic Temple of Qigong Kesh where the arcane, mysterious, and enlightening training in Force Skills would commence.

 

[Xena Amonali]

Objective B: Redemption
Location: With Trextan's group

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"] | [member="Rebel Sunka"] | [member="Taheera Sollo"] | [member="Elmont Block"] | [member="Jay Masaki"]​

Xena had been checked out for a moment mentally. Her mind was wandering across many other things, though that shouldn't have bothered her. She was on a mission after all. The whistling of the spear that landed before Trextan brought the girl to her senses. "Time to get to work," she thought to herself before projecting a small barrier of force around her body. The transparent bubble took a careful moment to form around her form, shimmering a bit in the dull light.

The girl let her senses expand out around her, using them to simply keep track of her allies and her unknown enemies. If it was a fight they wanted, then it was a fight they were going to get.

(Sorry for the late reply, got a bit busy.)

 

[xAcheron]

{5}

Blasted Jedi. Marcus mused as he pressed his back up against the rock he sought cover behind. Her orders were for no fatalities, that put them at a disadvantage from the start. Marcus looked to his squad member that was propped up behind a nearby rock in a similar manner to Marcus. "No kill shots, wound or set your weapon to stun! Commander's orders." He stated over the comm device, relaying it to the rest of his squad.

The Sergeant ran his hand over the emitter dial on his weapon, setting the blaster rifle to stun before turning to prop it on the rock he sat behind. He fired off a few rounds, watching as they impacted the nearest flesh raider, forcing him to crumple to the ground. He glanced over the rock to see only six of the hostile beings remained between them and their path. They were grouped in a way that one well placed thermal detonator would easily take them out.

"The hard way it is." He muttered before locking his sights on another flesh raider and pulling the trigger.


[member="Liliane"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Objective: Retribution
Location: Tython system (Kalimahr)
Allies: GA and friends [member="Agenor Dyre"]
Enemies: Rogue One Sith
Post: 7/38

"Cease firing, but maintain powered-up weapons: the enemy has no offensive firepower left over Kalimahr. We will not give them chase yet. Also maintain a fighter screen around our positions"

The carrier made its advance towards the sitting duck of a Wyyrlok that they call the Justicar. It was a delicate operation to get the docking port in position for boarding action, especially since the more obvious way would be through the hangar bay, but stun bombs need to be hoisted through the hangar bay to some other location where there is less of a risk to cause the stun gas to be vented out. Even so, a few hundred men needed to be on standby to make the initial volleys. The initial headway into the Justicar so that they could make everybody else go and board the enemy flagship would require a beachhead and a point of insertion for the life support circuits. Except that there was one problem: the crews deployed the smaller docking port based on the size of the holes punched onto the hull. Not necessarily a bad idea in and of itself, just that a few adjustments will be necessary.

"For the plan to succeed, we need to deploy the docking port closest to the life support circuits. However, the docking port is just large enough to shove the bomb through it "

"Might be best to drop the stun bomb first and then deploy boarding parties. Lock the airlock once the bomb is dropped: that will attract their attention before the Graug attempt to dispose of it, but they will detonate it instead. Use the larger docking port later"

Therapy Command vanguard:

Spoiler

Capital ships:

ANS Hero of Coruscant (Mateus-class fleet carrier) light hull damage
ANS Legacy (Legacy-class star destroyer) emergency hyperjump
ANS Lothal (Lothal-class assault cruiser) moderate hull damage
ANS Aleen (Lothal-class assault cruiser) moderate hull damage
ANS Andrew (Nebulon B7 frigate)
ANS Draco (Nebulon B7 frigate)
ANS Jacen (Nebulon B7 frigate)

Attack craft:

75 B/E-3 B-Wings
20 BTL-S12 K-Wing Aerofortresses
34 D-Wings

Rogue One Sith fleet (departed to Tython unless otherwise stated):

Spoiler

Capital ships:

Justicar (Wyyrlok-class Star Destroyer) heavy hull damage; Kalimahr
Wrack (Torment-class Star Destroyer) moderate shield damage
Charge (Vanguard-class heavy cruiser)
Restraint (Rhak Suri-class interdiction cruiser)
Tython (Maladi-class strike frigate)
Anaxes (Maladi-class strike frigate)
Impale (Boneshatter-class assault frigate)
Slice (Boneshatter-class assault frigate)
Maul (Boneshatter-class assault frigate)
Dismember(Boneshatter-class assault frigate)

Attack craft:

110 TIE/LN fighters
46 TIE/SA bombers

 

[Elmont Block]

Post 7

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b07-yKnKRMQ

“Never place all your reliance in the Force. It’s always there, but that does not mean it can always be called upon. Each Je’daii is his own person with his own talents. Learn to use them. Nurture them. If the Force is the dream, you are the dreamer, and sometimes you have to wake up. Sometimes, you are all you have.”
[SIZE=11pt]– Master Shall Mar, “A Life in Balance,” 7,523 TYA[/SIZE]

The re-emergence of sound was welcome and Elmont now realised how unsettled he’d become.

Once he felt rehydrated and rested, he began to explore.The space was a vast cavern and off it were many tunnels and caves. It felt more like an underground city than a temple.

Elmont could see how easily it would be to be stunned at the size and scope of Qigong. The temple was famous for its size and the complexity of its caverns and tunnels. But what he sensed now, what was less well documented, was the strength of the Force in this natural nexus. It was both uplifting and haunting at the same time.

But aware he’d learn nothing new down here, he began the long climb back to the surface.

Over a thousand steps later, he emerged in the sands. The sun blazed red across the western desert and the sands were coming alive with scorpions and serpents.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Objective B: Tython

​

[member="Rebel Sunka"] [member="Xena Amonali"] [member="Jay Masaki"]

If the sight of lightsabers gave the Flesh Raiders any concern it didn't show. They were absolutely monstrous creatures. Swinging a lightsaber could kill them, but would do nothing to arrest the momentum they carried into a charge. Even dead one of those things colliding into him could probably break bones.

Trextan stepped aside as one moved for him, calling on the Force to shift his weight so quickly. A wide, two-handed swing had his white blade meet the raider at waist height. The beast was almost cut in two. Another came right for him, forcing him to backpedal by swinging a heavy axe at him. Trextan gave ground, but he couldn't do so indefinitely; he needed to hold the line with Rebel and Xen whilst the soldiers found firing positions. Meeting the axe blade head on would have been foolish without careful timing: his saber would shear through the pole, but the axe head would have continued on - potentially into his head.

Trextan darted back then thrust forwards. There was a hiss as the tip of his blade struck the Raider's chest.

 

[Elmont Block]

Post 8

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx3s99FNXzI

Heading south across the Strafe Plains toward Stav Kesh, Elmont had put the Silent Desert behind him.

The main thing he noticed was that it was getting colder. Elmont liked the cold more than the heat. It was easier to keep warm than cold down in his experience.

His journey to the southern coast of Thyr was uneventful. Once at the coast, the former Cloud Chaser airport was a wonder to behold. High on the cliffs above the roaring ocean, once upon a time massive airships would launch from here, drifting down and out across the ocean in silent majesty.

Elmont had hired passage on a shuttle across the ocean and his flight south to the continent of Kato Zakar. Kato Zakar was often referred to as the Firelands because of its extremes of volcanic activity. But much of this volcanism was located in the continent’s heartlands almost thirty-two hundred kilometers south of the coast. His destination was much closer. In the high mountains almost five hundred kilometers inland lay the site of Stav Kesh, the former Temple of Martial Arts.

 

[Elmont Block]

Post 9

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW7hJpkWNPI

The Strafe Plains are a tough place to visit. They are cold and prone to strong winds and frequent localised Force Storms. And if that wasn’t enough, you had to contend with leaning columns of ice-sharp silica and dangerous magma-filled swallow holes that could appear without warning.

The plains were moulded largely by the elemental Force itself, and the wildlife reflected that fact. It’s said that the common spinner birds could sense a swallow hole’s imminent emergence, and they would will fly spirals around any area about to erupt.

Elmont had never heard of a Flame Tygah, let alone seen one. They were the stuff of stories told by parents to keep wayward children in check – if you didn’t behave, the Flame Tygah would get you.

Elmont never sensed its attack - the Force was strong here but it also made it hard to spot subtle changes. So when the creature burst from a pile of debris the latest storm had thrown up, he was caught unawares.

His attacker was big, its length almost twice Elmont’s height and its head as high as his chest. Each of its six heavy paws was the size of his head. Fire dripped from the tips of its claws and shimmered in the prints it left behind. Its scaled, oily hide flexed and reflected the sun, its tail swishing white fire through the air, its eyes blazing and its tooth-filled mouth glimmered with heat haze.

On another day, and perhaps on the other side of a transparisteel wall, Elmont might consider it beautiful. Right now, his only thought was how deadly it was.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Objective B: Tython

​

[member="Rebel Sunka"] [member="Xena Amonali"] [member="Jay Masaki"] [member="Taheera Sollo"]

Trextan took the opportunity to close on the raider. His nose regretted the decision as it was hit by a wall of stench. The raider was quick though. Even having taken damage the mechanically augmented creature reacted fast and swung it's axe over and down.

Trextan released his right hand from his saber hilt. The prosthetic came up and caught the axe just below the head. Metal fingers gripped hard enough to dent the polearm. The raider tried to pull it free but Trextan clung on.

Changing tactic the creature pulled, drawing him close to try and bite him. Trextan's left hand swung up, the blade of his saber ending the battle.

 

[Elmont Block]

Elmont dodged sideways, and drew his saber, swinging at the creature’s flank. It roared and shook itself, and he leaped over its back, swinging his saber once more, even before he landed. But this time his saber touched only thin air.

But the creature was confused and pained. As it swung around to lash out with one huge paw, Elmont rolled to one side and stood up into a textbook Jedi Ready pose.

Then the tygah lurched forward and slashed at him with one big paw.

Elmont leaped sideways, scraping and bumping across the rough ground. Snakes of fire curled around his arms and shoulders. But he immediately bounced back and swung his saber at the creature with as much strength as he could muster with both hands. For the present, he was oblivious of the flames that were taking hold of his robes.

The creature screamed in pain, a surprisingly human sound. Fire erupted from its mouth and hazed the air. Ash fell to the ground.

Elmont kept his hands raised, ready for the killing blow. He met the creature’s gaze, knowing it understood the pain he could deliver.

“Leave,” he said, pushing against the creature’s mind as he spoke.

The flame tygah glanced at the distance then back at Elmont before leaping away, bounding around the mound it had emerged from and then disappearing.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Objective: Retribution
Location: Tython system (Kalimahr)
Allies: GA and friends [member="Agenor Dyre"]
Enemies: Rogue One Sith
Post: 8/38

- BATTLE MEDITATION ACTIVATED -​

Once the bomb has been chucked down the small docking port, it is left to slide down the port with it banging against its walls. Cathul hoped that the bomb would not detonate inside the docking port, nor will it explode on contact: with each bang, the bomb loses kinetic energy. Her hope would be that the Graug would simply try to chop the stun bomb to pieces, killing a few near the blast and stunning the survivors for a while, while on intruder alert that is focused on the impact point of the bomb. In the middle of it all, she activates battle meditation so that she could allow the boarding parties to engage the stragglers and to minimize the losses. There were still a few thousand Graug left alive onboard: knowing the ROS' strategy as it comes to using Graug, intruder alerts centered on one particular location would mean that they would rush towards the first location, while the second location where the boarding parties would be some distance away from the first one. A few minutes later...

"Admiral, the enemy has detonated the stun bomb"

"Deploy the main docking port!"

From the here on out, the boarding parties are on their own, with hundreds of men ready to jump down the main docking port hanging from the hangar bay. Meanwhile, damage control teams are busy repairing the sections of the hull and shields are slowly recharging, so that, hopefully, once the boarding action is over, it would be ready to fight the remaining ROS ships yet again. The ROS would be wishing they did not have to fight again...

Therapy Command vanguard:

Spoiler

Capital ships:

ANS Hero of Coruscant (Mateus-class fleet carrier) light hull damage
ANS Legacy (Legacy-class star destroyer) emergency hyperjump
ANS Lothal (Lothal-class assault cruiser) moderate hull damage
ANS Aleen (Lothal-class assault cruiser) moderate hull damage
ANS Andrew (Nebulon B7 frigate)
ANS Draco (Nebulon B7 frigate)
ANS Jacen (Nebulon B7 frigate)

Attack craft:

75 B/E-3 B-Wings
20 BTL-S12 K-Wing Aerofortresses
34 D-Wings

Rogue One Sith fleet (departed to Tython unless otherwise stated):

Spoiler

Capital ships:

Justicar (Wyyrlok-class Star Destroyer) heavy hull damage; Kalimahr
Wrack (Torment-class Star Destroyer) moderate shield damage
Charge (Vanguard-class heavy cruiser)
Restraint (Rhak Suri-class interdiction cruiser)
Tython (Maladi-class strike frigate)
Anaxes (Maladi-class strike frigate)
Impale (Boneshatter-class assault frigate)
Slice (Boneshatter-class assault frigate)
Maul (Boneshatter-class assault frigate)
Dismember(Boneshatter-class assault frigate)

Attack craft:

110 TIE/LN fighters
46 TIE/SA bombers

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Objective: BYOO (Study the Flesh Raiders)
Location: Tython, Tythos Ridge
Post: 1

While the rest of the GA and New Jedi Order came her to cleanse and repair the damage done to the Tython under the One Sith, Taeli had come back to the system for another reason. Landing near the Tythos Ridge with a few ships from Aurora, she descended the boarding ramp along with several Aurora Wight operatives. Their objective wasn't necessarily in line with the main reason the Jedi had arrived, no it was definitely more scientifically minded.

For quite some time, she had been curious about the evolution of the Flesh Raiders. Once, long ago, she had begun some basic study of the Flesh Raiders, but now... she was more interested in full on research into their genetics and abilities. She would, of course, file any findings into the NJO archives... but there would likely be a few experiments that she would not be sharing.

"How... uncivilized," she said, observing a pile of bones and crude imagery at the edge of the valley. Basic, primal... tribal markings of territory perhaps? Just one more thing for her to study it would seem. The rest of the team began to disembark, most of them operatives trained in the capture of specimens for their genetics research at Jen'asha Station and Horizon Station. "Let's find some specimens, alive is preferable but dead still has value."

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Objective: Retribution
Location: Tython system (Kalimahr)
Allies: GA and friends
Enemies: Rogue One Sith
Post: 9/38

- BATTLE MEDITATION ACTIVATED -​

"What would make sense would be to hack into the ship's databanks in search for the remaining members of the Rogue One Sith, admiral"

"We must have access to these databanks in the first place"

Even with a thousand Graug being stunned, and perhaps another thousand naval crewmembers being stunned, the fact of the matter is that Graug come storming at the boarding parties with one objective in mind: defending the access paths to the CIC, where one Arian Kanno is holed up. Which is, in fact, the primary objective. The secondary objective is to capture ROS members alive: even though she knew most Sith would prefer to be fighting on the ground, on Aargau or Anaxes, or even in Vur Tepe or other Tython locations, there ought to be a Sith or two left behind onboard the Justicar: these postings were for the more... unruly among the Rogue One Sith's low-to-mid level Sith. But even fighting the Graug hordes under battle meditation would mean that 500 may not be enough. Especially not since securing a computer terminal is virtually required to access the enemy databanks because Cathul was a little suspicious about the condition of the enemy socketguards.

"The first wave of 500 boarding parties is away, admiral"

"Roger, roger"

Therapy Command vanguard:

Spoiler

Capital ships:

ANS Hero of Coruscant (Mateus-class fleet carrier) light hull damage
ANS Legacy (Legacy-class star destroyer) emergency hyperjump
ANS Lothal (Lothal-class assault cruiser) moderate hull damage
ANS Aleen (Lothal-class assault cruiser) moderate hull damage
ANS Andrew (Nebulon B7 frigate)
ANS Draco (Nebulon B7 frigate)
ANS Jacen (Nebulon B7 frigate)

Attack craft:

75 B/E-3 B-Wings
20 BTL-S12 K-Wing Aerofortresses
34 D-Wings

Rogue One Sith fleet (departed to Tython unless otherwise stated):

Spoiler

Capital ships:

Justicar (Wyyrlok-class Star Destroyer) heavy hull damage; Kalimahr
Wrack (Torment-class Star Destroyer) moderate shield damage
Charge (Vanguard-class heavy cruiser)
Restraint (Rhak Suri-class interdiction cruiser)
Tython (Maladi-class strike frigate)
Anaxes (Maladi-class strike frigate)
Impale (Boneshatter-class assault frigate)
Slice (Boneshatter-class assault frigate)
Maul (Boneshatter-class assault frigate)
Dismember(Boneshatter-class assault frigate)

Attack craft:

110 TIE/LN fighters
46 TIE/SA bombers

 

[HK-36]

[member="Darth Abyss"], [member="Vilin"], [member="Valkyra Silber"],


While the battle for Anexes kicked off between Abyss' remnants, Valkyra Anexes loyalists, and the GA forces, HK was still aboard the Knight of the Eclipse, his personal stealth transport, along with the Greycloaks who would accompany him during the engagement as honor guard and part of his assault team.

Their sleek cloaked ship soared through the empty void of space towards what they deemed as Sith remnant flagship, their mission was simple, infiltrate it and either disable it from within or take control of it for themselves to be crewed later on and used as part of Abregado fleet, or what would later come to be the roaming fleets of Metal Lords.

So yeah, as turbolaser fire and anti-capital volleys were exchange between the various groups, Hk and his droids closed in stealthily on the ship, ready to begin their boarding procedure.

 

[Zark San Tekka]

Location: In Hyperspace Approaching Anaxes
Objective: The Men in the High Castle
Allies: Galactic Alliance, [member="Vilin"], [member="Valkyra Silber"]?
Enemies: One Sith Remnant, [member="Darth Abyss"], [member="Miss Blonde"], [member="Tezuka Sayo"]
Gear:

Spoiler

Lightsaber
GA-HBS-01 Heavy Blaster Pistol

Post: 1


Old Senate Building, Senate District
Galactic City, Coruscant
The Core

No matter the circumstances, Coruscant was always a sight to behold.

The jewel of the Core had fallen on somewhat hard times in the wake of such instability in the local sector, Alliance Planetary Defense Forces and Coruscant Police still having to contend with the occasional food riot as uncertainty remained as to whether the regular cargo shipments that were the city world's lifeblood would get through on time. Such a possibility had only a few years ago been unthinkable, regardless of the state of things in the wider galaxy, but that had been before the fall of the One Sith. Before the fall of their Empire, and the stability and (relative) peace of the Core systems with it. No other region of Galactic Federation space was so heavily patrolled save Sullust, and so far the Defense Fleet had still only managed to maintain a small green zone, a corridor of space really between Dulvoyinn and Coruscant where supplies and personnel could make it through with relative assurance that they would remain unscathed.

It was the job of Commodore Zark Pulsar, and those who had been sent with him from the southern territories, to change that. High Command had finally managed to secure the funding for resources and manpower necessary to make another push to consolidate the Core. The bulk of the operations were taking place on Tython, still in many ways a fortress of the Dark Side. But there was more than one fortress of evil in the region, and while Tython ignited the curiosity of the historian and Jedi within him, it was not the one he found himself prioritizing in purely strategic terms. Anaxes had been a true citadel world for the One Sith's military industrial complex, and with its leadership still ostensibly paying at least token fealty to the symbol of the fallen empire, it represented a clear and present military threat of an unknown scale. To the tactical part of his brain, that was simply unacceptable.

The ANS Hereafter had put into orbit and dropped anchor not an hour prior, and already the Commodore could glimpse the massive rotunda of the Old Senate Building on the horizon through the viewport of his shuttle as they angled downward towards a lower traffic lane that would take them to their intended destination. Coruscant was still very much a planet picking up the pieces, politically and infra-structurally speaking. While the Alliance more or less left well enough alone save to provide the occasional asked for insight, advice, and occasionally manpower in addition to the benefits the federal government provided to all member worlds, such as the Planetary Defense Force and the trade agreements that had kept the ecumenopolis' unstable economy afloat in the face of an uncertain future. In the meantime, the Galactic Federation's administrative and military headquarters were temporarily occupying the Senate Tower.

High Command had been worried how that might look, them setting up shop in what had once been the center of all galactic government, but Zark recalled that they had ultimately considered it a much better alternative than one of the only other structures in the area both suitable and available for their purposes, the Imperial Palace. When they had first moved in, they had stressed to the populace that they would vacate the landmark at a moment's notice upon the request of the provisional government who shared the space. So far, the request had not come, so when he had been summoned to a priority meeting the moment his command ship had arrived in system, that was where he had told the Belsar's shuttle pilot to take him.

When they had finally made it through the typically hellish Coruscant traffic (some things never change), the Commodore had found that the briefing had already ended without him. A stream of half familiar faces were filing out onto the steps leading up to the Senate, and Zark recognized enough of them by reputation to see that these men and women had likely received the same invitation. He wondered just what exactly was going on, as while most of his contemporaries held pretty good poker faces as a part of the job, he could see elevated tension in enough expressions to know that something happening. Something big, and he had missed it. Might still miss it.

Finally, he saw a face he did recognize, "Commodore Vilin, you old sea dog! How's the ship, you haven't scuttled her yet have you? Come on, fill me in on whatever this madness is on the way to your shuttle."

As the two officers fell into pace with each other, in orbit around Coruscant an impressive array of Defense Fleet elements had formed together into several expeditionary fleets. The heightened activity in the neighboring Axum system had not gone unnoticed by Alliance satellites and picket forces, beginning with the swiftly cut off distress calls of civilian transports being pulled from hyperspace by unknown forces. The most recent intelligence suggested there might be some sort of infighting going on amongst the Remnant warlords holding the fortress world, which meant there might be no better time to strike. Whether they would arrive in time to render some form of assistance to its no doubt terrified populace, ailing already under the yoke of an oppressive military dictatorship, or if the ghost of the One Sith's hubris would turn the surface of Anaxes into a lifeless wasteland before they ever got the chance...

That remained to be seen.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Xena Amonali"] [member="Elmont Block"]

Objective B: Tython

​

Trextan switched off his saber and the blade extinguished. It left a neat hole from the flesh raider's chin to crown. As the creature fell away another emerged from the treeline. It brought up a speargun that was clearly designed for hunting much bigger game than humans.

The young Justicar let the dead raider crumple away from him, but kept a firm grip on its axe. He brought up his prosthetic arm and launched it forwards. The artificial limbs sent it spinning through the air with great speed and it lodged itself in the shooter's chest. As the raider fell back its fingers squeezed the trigger, sending the spear over Trextan's head. The Jedi ducked reflexively anyway.

"We need reinforcements here to deal with these things. There's more of them than we picked up in orbital scans!"

 

[Xandyr Carrick]

[member="Zark"]

Zark would have to slow his pace to accommodate the middle-aged devaronian. Each step was accompanied by the click of his cane. Those who knew him well, particularly his bridge officers, knew that the sound of his cane could tell one a great deal about the Commodore's emotional state.

Right now the relatively brisk pace and clear sharp tone indicated that he was mentally moving with purpose. A touch frustrated but working it all out inside his own head.

"Potential trouble in the nearby sectors. Tython is in hand but we're picking up some serious movement of naval assets." He sighed as he tried to pick up the pace. His damned leg hurt so much when he tried to do so.

"I was just here for the celebrations of the new flagship. I'm not sure we want to take her into battle just set so we're considering launcher her fighters here and keeping her moored to a battle station. Sometimes I wonder if we need to get our eyes back on the core, even with everything happening in the Rim."

 

[Miel Tevv]

Location: Coruscant
Objective: The Bank Job - Aargau
Allies: Galactic Alliance, Merchant Fleet
Enemies: War Profiteers, [member="Mobius"]
Post: 2


SoroSuub Cloudscraper, Core Plaza
Galactic City, Coruscant
The Core

When Admiral Tevv had told him he'd be going on an all expenses paid trip to the Deep Core, a stuffy meeting room with uncomfortable chairs and at least a dozen head bobbing Sullustans hadn't been exactly what he had had in mind. The Sullustan people had grown on Nathanos in the months since he had moved to Byllurun, their homeworld's capital city, to come and work for SoroSuub. Help run SoroSuub, really. It had been the opportunity of a lifetime, owned by odd little aliens or not, for someone like the Hapan who had spent his whole life on the outside looking in, disgraced as he was in his own people's culture. To operate at the highest powers of intergalactic business and trade, to be finally respected by not just his closest friends, his peers, but the average passerby on the street, even. His whole life had changed dramatically almost overnight, and yet...

And yet there were moments like these.

The Deputy Director wanted to take in the sights, to see everything the center of galactic culture had to offer, but instead he had been stuck in meetings like these all week. SoroSuub's expansion into the Core had so far stalled out. Part of that had to do with the general economic instability of the region, but a critical component was their inability to secure enough funding from the local banks to pay all their contractors. An unthinkable failing for a megacorp like SoroSuub, the Sullustans sensed the hand of nearby Aargau. Beacon of trade throughout the Core, it was well known that the owners of the Bank of Aargau had been long comfortable friends of the One Sith regime, and would be of no help to the Alliance in their efforts to secure the Core.

But to seek to actively block their interests, to Nathanos it meant only one thing. For some reason, the Bank still saw the Galactic Federation as enemies. It wasn't just the calculating cruelty of business, the Deputy Direct believed, for the Bank had nothing to lose and everything to gain by a new galactic superpower bringing some much needed stability to the region's trade. Which could only mean that Aargau feared the Alliance's expansion into their territory for another reason, and Director Darksword suspected that meant the corruption ran far deeper than his peers had predicted. Everyone in the finance community knew that the Bank was cooking their books at least a little, they had to be to have kept their noses so clean through the One Sith. But the problem was nobody could...prove it.

But how?

Bursting into motion from a state of near languor, Nathanos almost gave the poor middle aged alien woman sitting next to him a heart attack as he hurriedly excused himself and practically scurried out of the meeting room, heedless of the shocked expressions he left in his wake. The only way they could prove the Bank was corrupt was to obtain copies of the real deal, and the only place to find those was locked tightly away in a secure location inside the Bank itself. Breaking into the Bank of Aargau....it was an impossible job.

Luckily, the Deputy Director happened to know a guy who had a whole contact list of people who specialized in impossible jobs. And the plan was exactly the kind of crazy the old pirate loved.

Returning to his office, and making sure his comm was set to an encrypted channel, he dialed. Nathanos smiled widely in return as the toothy grin of Grand Captain Cei Kyro, de-facto leader of the GA Merchant Fleet, appeared in a hazy holoimage over his desk.

"Wanna rob a bank?" Nathanos asked, skipping even the polite courtesies.

"Son, you've got my attention."