Ain't No Rest For The Wicked [Levantine Sanctum Dominion of Iferetes]

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Naamah Aesham"] [member="Chloe Blake"] [member="Miktik"] [member="Vaudin Miir"]

Jorus fired off the last round of his mauled shotgun and threw it aside, scooping up the big Mandalorian shell gun that Miktik had provided. "Not that I ain't glad to see ya, Mik," he said through gritted teeth, slotting in a couple of eight-gauge shells, "but this gun's got my love right about now."

He spun right, faced a hall of rakghouls, and pulled both triggers. The stock crashed into his shoulder. A wave of CryoBan froze the rakghouls solid; the concussion round shattered them to splinters. He continued to retreat.

 

[Vaudin Miir]

[member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Chloe Blake"] [member="Miktik"]

Vaudin stood and pressed against a wall. He flipped the action on his 10 gauge double barrel and reloaded it with a loud crack.

"Git." He said to his friends. "I'll cover you."

The resounding boom from his ancient weapon punctuated his statement clearly. He wasn't going to follow them but he'd be along....later.

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Vaudin Miir"] [member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Naamah Aesham"]

Jorus and Vau's weren't the only shots sent down range. Up went Chloe's Ambassador, sending a couple of pot shots here and there, hightailing as she would back step.

Just as she was about to cross down a corridor, she spotted a barrel with a distinct volatile sticker over it. "CLEAR OUT" she warned, before toppling the fuel barrel and sending it towards the rakghouls

A few shots from her blaster to the barrel sent a massive BOOM and spread a fiery wall to block the horde.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Vaudin Miir"] [member="Miktik"] [member="Chloe Blake"]

Under cover of Chloe's flame wall, Jorus reloaded feverishly, and that wasn't entirely a metaphor. Larger and more twisted rakghouls pressed on through the fire, feet tangled in the corpses of their brothers. The Mandalorian shell gun snicked back together, and an incendiary blast roared out to pin them between heat and heat. A concussion shell popped his ears and turned the corridor down there into overpressure; the fire went blue-hot for a few seconds, and rakghouls melted away to bone.

He reloaded again.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

A translucent Ithorian walked the halls of Iferetes, unseen except when necessary. A quiet, half-perceived word in this ear or that helped direct the atttention of Ifereti leaders and commanders toward threats from above. Customs checkpoints and system defenses went on minor alert to fit reports of a massive ghost ship in the Corporate Sector next door. A ship that was headed this way. As a ghost, Boolon was not especially bound by distance. He knew what was in the ship. Search and rescue crews went on standby also.

 

[Darth Libertas]

@Vaudin Mirr, [member="Chloe Blake"], [member="Jorus Merrill"]


Rakghouls everywhere! And flames, plenty of those! Alas the beasts did not have the good grace to simply stay put in the flame wall and be roasted like good little beasties. It was most annoying when they did not consent to a presumably very painful roasting.


Naamah was out of ammunition, but still had some juice and so, as power rippled through her, she struck Rakghouls with a telekinetic blast meant to sent them flying back into the wall of fire. Kill it with fire was such a nice trope. A beast that pounced upon her was hewed down with her lightsabre, a flash of crimson in the darkness, as she pulled back.

 

[Miktik]

Miktik was scared, he had been since leaving the gypsy moth. Scared, but not alone. The sight of the others fighting Valliantly against the tide of monsters inspired the diminutive creature to new heights. Hefting up his pistol he loosed lances of red energy into the wall of fire. "We need to get to the ship," Miktik said holstering his pistol and running on all fours down the corridor. They were nearing the end of the line now, Miktik could sense it in his very being. As he rounded a corner he stopped sliding on hind legs. Rakgouls, trying to cut the group off. He pulled out the little pistol, large in his hand, and fired loudly...

[member="Vaudin Miir"] & [member="Chloe Blake"] & [member="Jorus Merrill"] & [member="Naamah Aesham"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

On Iferetes, at the palace, Iara worked diplomacy as she hadn't in ages. There'd been a time when this was second nature to her, but in reality, she'd spent most of her life as a wanderer and a soldier, a desert warrior and a fleet commander. She'd gotten competent at diplomacy out of necessity, and lost some of it, maybe most of it, out of neglect. Thus, she cheated, using Theran listening to hear through walls and understand other languages, find points of pressure, exploit them. This system' safety came before their ego.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

In the meantime our other group of intrepid adventurers, pyromaniacs and explosion enthusiasts was getting closer. [member="Delila Castillon"] had had the idea of simply venting the damn Rakghouls into the cold vacuum of space, which Kaida totally approved of. Given the fact that a couple days onward Kerrigan would get spaced this was probably tremendously ironic. However, there were still plenty of Rakghouls in their way. A great many had been drowned by the flood Kaida had unleashed and was now being fried by lightning!



Lightning everywhere! Too bloody bright from Kaida's perspective. There were also explosions caused by bolter rounds and flashes of red laser beams since the Firemane troops were enthusiastically joining in the orgy of destruction that was presumably blasting a couple walls apart here and there. So Kaida did what she did best: Hitting the beasts with the power of cold. The flood had drowned several and hit more against walls with such force to break bones, now she exerted her will to manipulate the liquid so that it crystallised and hardened. As the temperature dropped very rapidly the water transformed into ice, soon forming blocks of it that effectively encased Rakghouls, making them experience what happened when you were locked in a freezer.


Suffice to say it was not pleasant. Then the beasts shattered and blew up.

 

[Vaena Askari]

Meanwhile on the Illyria-class frigate called the Thrax, which had served as the chariot delivering the valiant Firemane soldiers, pyromanics all, into battle, Tarissa Cadalthor was waiting on the bridge, a cup of starcaf in hand. Truly, it was a human beverage and as such most vile, but simply delicious and try as she might, in her heart of hearts she knew that she could not resist it. Of course, she had no desire to death charge into battle, for that was not her station. So far the human and Eldorai crewers aboard the frigate were doing their job so she did not experience the need to chew any of them out as she surveyed them.



Instead she was observing things from the command deck. Fortunately so far the ghost ship had not shot at them. Further reinforcements were incoming to help secure the ship, truly a most vile design conjured up by Dashdae Sciians. Preparations were being made for some of the strange gunships that had been found in its hangar to be taken by Firemane. After all, they may yet have use of them and she would make sure that the Eldorai would get their appropriate share.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Where Iara listened, Rosa felt. She'd only spent a handful of years away from diplomacy and even then it wasn't a complete cut off. Fact of the matter was that Rosa was good at it, and as much as she hated being a part of politics, there was a part of her that enjoyed it, not that she would ever admit as much out loud. They were tense, uncertain perhaps even a little scared.

One way or the other, Iferetes would accept their protection, because to refuse it would be folly. Rosa was a calm centre and she projected this to those in the palace. Trust in us, let us help you.

@Ia'raklane Beorht

 

[Moira Skaldi]

The intrepid diplomatists Rosa Gunn and Ia'raklane Beorht were not the only ones spreading good will and attending to the defence of Iferetes. There was a time for explosions and mayhem, and there was a time for diplomacy. Archangel Research and Design was a rising droidmaker that belived wholeheartedly in giving its clients what they needed and embraced the notion of corporate social responsibility. As they had proved when they provided humanitarian aid for the clean-up on Druckenwell, free of charge.



After all, their goal was to help people. Aid them in overcoming their limitations and expand the boundaries of science to create magnificient machines. Iferetes was in dire need of defences and so it came to pass that a number of nobles who ruled the system were interested in purchasing their designs. Some of their demands for custom-made HRDs were ridiculously extravagant, but the client was king and as such would get what they wanted. By the time the negotiations were over the company had earned plenty of credits and was one step closer to its goal.


Spreading its HRDs across the Galaxy. Capitalism was such a beautiful thing.

 

[Adele Adonai]

[member="Boolon Murr"]

With her fellow ghost, Jedi Knight A’dele Adonnai would also aid in the gentle persuasion of various CSA medical crews. The quiet meditative Iridonian was as serene as she’d seemingly appeared to be in life, but in death, had managed to attain that level of peace and tranquility that she had sought as penance throughout it.

There were few things she could do in this form, but it was enough. It only took a small pebble to create waves in a pond.

 

[Mother Arg'garok]

Mother Arg’garok’s moist snout would quiver slightly, her squat flat head perking slightly. She could feel it.

There was a disturbance in the Force.

Granted, she hadn’t noticed the two ghostly apparitions, but she was certainly pleased by the ongoing quick response of the CSA medical teams.

Whatever may come their way, at least they were now prepared. In this she was pleased, as she went waddling on, morts twitching over her cheek, to double check on the medbays.

 

[Chloe Blake]

While Chloe couldn’t compare to Jorus in gut instinct through the Force running blind, she wasn’t helpless. Her time as a Warden gave her heightened senses and a good sense of direction.

Decked out in her exploration gear, she would continue to run down the hall, Ambassador pistols sending a powerful message to any stray Rakghoul that came to them.

It was here… somewhere… the ship. Left… left… no right! Down another corridor they went.

 

[Miktik]

The Rakghoul crashed to the ground. Miktik could see the ship now. He frowned as he looked at the downed ramp. There was a few creatures around it, stalking about. They hadn't been there when he left the ship in the first place. How stupid of him, he should have set up some automatic defenses from... whatever. He could have set a droid to alert him of the alien presence at least. Taking a deep breath Miktik worked up his courage and on all fours ran toward the ramp. A Rakghoul jumped at him and he nimbly jumped to the side landing on his feet.

He dodged another blow before reaching the ramp. The poor little guy was panting now. "Ths ship might not be clear," he reminded himself as looked back at the closing ramp. He pulled out his little pistol and started roaming the ship clearing various rooms before reaching the cockpit. Clear. He sat in the seat and started playing with the various controls. The ship powered up and the ship flared to life.

The vessel raised slightly off the deck of the hanger and he turned the vessel about and keyed the guns to fire. Rakghouls and other monsters vaporized under the fire of laser cannons. "Hurry up guys..." he said looking at the hangers entrance. When he saw the others coming he'd lower the ramp to let them on, until then he'd do his best to control the ship and cover them!

[member="Vaudin Miir"] & [member="Chloe Blake"] & [member="Jorus Merrill"] & [member="Naamah Aesham"]

 

[Sammo Hache-Khe of Rae]

Out in the void of space around the planet there was a blue flash of light as a greying ghost-ship Munificent frigate has sailed into the system of Iferetes, once more, it was this ship, after all, that discovered the planet and made first contact between its inhabitants and current citizens of Galaxy.

It was the Young In Spirit, the vessel officially captained by Captain Sammo (unofficially anything that Dells said overruled Sammo's orders)


Aboard the bridge of the ship Sammo stood watching the surface of the planet through the viewport of the ship's command center.

"Scramble our pilots to provide support to the Sanctum."

"Roger-roger."

The Second-In-Command answered to Sammo's order, his trusty B1 sidekick on the ship.

"And power up our weapon systems, target the en-"

"Sir, we have NO weapons."


Sammo slowly reached to his head, raking his fingers through his hair as he gave out a sigh,

"I keep forgetting that one."

"I bet you do, Sir."

"Alright, open up channel to Sanctum communications."

"Roger-roger."

Second fiddled with his console, pushing in commands and tapping on the glass surface before he looked to Sammo once more.

"You are on, sir."


"Sanctum, this is Captain Sammo of the Young In Spirit, I am scrambling my spacers to provide support on the ground, including extraction, let me know where you need me."

"Other than that I have no weapon systems so I can cheer for you to keep you motivated."


"Yay, go team, yay."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Miktik"] [member="Chloe Blake"] [member="Vaudin Miir"] [member="Naamah Aesham"]

He cleared the ramp at a dead run, tripped at the top, skidded into the Gypsymoth. "Mik! Beyyr!" he yelled. "Soon as we're out, assault conc missile, two hundred yards north of the bridge, dorsal! I found a spot needs killing!"

He levered himself upright via the shotgun and scrambled out of the way of whoever was storming in the ramp after him.

 

[Not Ordo]

[member="Jorus Merrill"][member="Chloe Blake"][member="Boolon Murr"][member="Naamah Aesham"]@Miktik@Ia'raklane Beorht[member="Kaida Taldir"][member="Tarissa Cadalthor"][member="Rosa Gunn"][member="Rosa Gunn"][member="Moira Skaldi"]@Mother Arg'garok[member="Sammo Hache-Khe of Rae"]


The bright flood lights of the man's ship beamed as he drop from hyperspace over the looming ghost ship. The unmarked vessel moved deftly and came along side of the behemoth. A docking ring extended and sealed before sparks from plasma torches would be heard and a single man stood with weapons in hand. The howls could be heard as the section fell away and the man began firing what appeared to be a star fighter rotating auto cannon into charging beast. One man against a ship was suicide but this man had done worse in another life. The ship would be the sanctum's tonight.

"No matta vhat you face un life you hahndle all alike vhen you are ze anvil, bear, und vhen ze hammer strike."

 

[Chloe Blake]

Chloe would slide on behind Jorus, rushing into the ship. Here's to hoping nothing decided to get inside. With her blaster held in front of her, she would start clearing the inside of the ship just incase.

Thankfully -- nothing had managed to make it inside.

"Clear!" she'd shout out.