Ashira Is My Witness (Raid on Kaeshana)

[H3xle]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Weeks earlier

"Countess Kerrigan, thank you for seeing me. Please, call me Lexi. My journey was swift and pleasant." She replied, assuming an 'At Ease' stance before Siobhan. "And a word on your Captains, they are each a value to my command. I have found them to be expertly trained planners and tacticians, and have put me to shame in our weekly Sabaac games." She smiled warmly at that. She glanced around the room, then at Siobhan herself. She was every bit the commanding general that her officers had said she'd be. The room spoke volumes about her discipline, and her love of the study of war. This was a warrior born and bred. Lexi took a breath and came to the point, figuring that Siobhan would appreciate that more than the noblese tango of small talk. "I have come on the recommendations of your officers. I have a proposal to start a private fleet that will be able to engage the enemy in ways the Alliance is frankly afraid to do. I have utilized my own money and position to start us off, but I have come here in the hope that you and I could come to an arrangement for support of my fleet." She let out an easy breath, she had knocked on the door. She knew that Firemane had interests across the galaxy, and adding a private battle fleet to their list of resources would allow them greater flexibility in pursuing their plans. Lexi didn't want Phoenix Fleet to become a Firemane Asset in total, but had no issue in coordinating strikes and intel.

 

[Eugen Aker]

A lone nondescript medium freighter dropped out of hyperspace over Kaeshana, then descended right on a path for Saintissa. It would squawk codes as it broke through the upper reaches of Kaeshana's atmosphere, identifying itself as the Dixie Chick, on the last leg of a long journey that had begun from the independent world of Denon. Military controllers would direct them to land within one of the green zones of Saintissa, districts of the city under firm First Order control.

The crew of the Dixie had arrived with no particular objective in mind, other than to carry out the instructions of their anonymous benefactor. The first was to deliver a large shipment of advanced medical supplies to help with the ongoing crises upon the devastated Eldorai homeworld. The second was to deliver said benefactor safe and sound.

Arisa would slip away from the Dixie just about as soon as it landed and opened itself for inspection by customs agents. She wouldn't be alone, several two-man cells of Apokkan commandos (18) in tow, all under the cover of Odominous Units, their minds steeled to reduce the chances of detection by any Force Users about.

They split up as they exited the immediate vicinity of the Dixie, each cell with their own particular assignments issued to them by Arisa herself. Most had the rather benign task of observing the residents of Saintissa, just to see what kind of progress had been made by the First Order since their battle with the Tygarans and Galactic Alliance months before. Information gathered on that front could be used for psyops later. The few units with Arisa had a much juicier assignment that would eventually lead them to some of the local offices of the First Order for some sleuthing.

There were some awful stories that needed verification, and while the Tygarans took the direct track investigating the creepy new complex erected by the First Order, she would begin her work here and see where it went. She came here hoping to find that the stories were just that, but after the true ugly face of the First Order had been revealed to her at Marzoon, she had a sinking feeling that she would find some truth in these tales. Bad things usually seemed to happen wherever Sith were allowed to roost.

Spoiler

[member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Rel Connory"] [member="Amit Nykoan"] [member="Tempest"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Joza Perl"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Alexandra Morrow"] [member="Taryc Ap'Irae"]

 

[Ignatius Rausgeber]

Ignatious watched the ships pulling in and out of Saintissa spaceport. He eyed the toxic atmosphere glumly, "So this is what it was all for..." Rausgeber mused quietly, "This is what the Alliance decided to pitch their whole war on?" The junior agent asked, looking away from his terminal. He shook his head in disgust, and sighed.

"You're not wrong there Iggy," One of the senior agents replied with a sardonic chuckle. The whole office was rather makeshift. It was situated in a large towering ruin next to the building. The terminals, and comms equipment were powered by generators situated in the basement. "Karkin' scum." The agent then turned to look at Rausgeber, "When this war's over," He paused, and turned to look around at the other agents working at the office, "I want to take some Jedi bastard, and I just want to watch him roast alive with one of those flamethrowers."

Iggy couldn't help but agree with that sentiment. There were nods, and chuckles of agreement, but the office returned back to work. Well, whatever work there was. Not many ships made the journey to Kaeshana. Most that did were military vessels, providing supplies and relieving stormtroopers. So the work was usually quiet, meaning there would sometimes be hours on end of customs, and intelligence officers able to shoot the poodoo.

Except for Ignatious. The agent glumly at his terminal. He was in charge of organising the shift workers. Although right now, First Imperial Naval officers now organised the spaceport, the hope was to train local Eldorai in order to perform the duties as mechanics, fuel jockeys, and unloading cargo. It was crude labour, but for a people who had been forced to fend for themselves far from civilisation, it was important to try and incorporate them into the systems of normal life.

Though, admittedly, there were many Eldorai who were skilled, and ideologically pure, checks needed to be made. Who knew if some Firemane soldier, left behind by their treacherous masters, may try and sabotage the government. So while agents downstairs did background checks, Ignatious began to run through and roster people on. Rausgeber's concentration was broken, when a buzz sounded. "What is it this time?" One of the agents called.

"FleetCom just called it in, some freighter called the Dixie's coming in," One of the agents sighed, "Carrying some small cargo, and goods. They buzzed it through."

The most senior agent looked around the room, standing up from his terminal. "Who wants to lead the inspection group?" The agent asked, there was silence, "Come on boys, we need someone down there." Still silence, "Cheeky cockmunchers, aren't you?" The officer smirked, "Rausgeber, O'Hanahan, you two'll lead the team."

Ignatious silently turned off his terminal screen, and stood up from his chair, putting on his officers coat, and taking his cap from the desk. Across the way, Shane O'Hanahan did the same. The intelligence agent was an older man, about thirty, and outranked Ignatious by quite a margin. "I'll grab the datapad," O'Hanahan drily informed the young agent, "You rally the troops downstairs, and I'll meet you there."

"Yes sir." Ignatious replied, putting his cap on his head. He briskly walked to the elevator. It was the only new part of the building, installed by the PDF as the First Order secured the city. He clicked the button for the lowest floor, and waited with baited breath. He wasn't made for this. He was meant to dine on fine Mon Calamari caviar, with fine ales and wines to boot. Not work on some backwater like this. Especially, this one.

Immediately as the elevator opened, he could hear the stormtroopers. Of course he'd had to be paired with these morons. The Gundark Gunners, "And then after I finished, I thought, she could be my grandma!" A voice rang out, followed by a massive bellow of laughter.

Ignatious made his way through the stormtrooper barracks. It was really an over glorified locker room, although the Gundark Gunners had made it their home. The benches had been converted into sabacc tables, a rudimentary speaker system had been jury rigged through a troopers helm, blasting out music. "Umm, excuse me," Ignatious began, with no response. "I'm sorry, but uh, could you-" He was cut off by an increase in the musics bass line. He began to press into the crowd, and that is when they turned on Rausgeber, and the music was silenced. "Could I have our atten-tion..." He wasn't used to this sort of company.

"Yeah?" One of the troopers began, confrontational in tone, he was a larger man, who towered above Ignatious, at six foot, two.

"Umm, we have-" Ignatious stammered, "We have-"

"Come on stutters, get it out!" Another boorishly jeered, that set off another set of hyena-like cackles.

"We have a vessel coming through." A gruff voice continued, "And I would expect that you'd deploy squads to help sort us out." Shane O'Hanahan growled, before sniffing the air, "Is that alcohol? Wenck, have your men been drinking again?"

"Of course not!" The one called Wenck replied, "Twigg, you useless wankstain, get your men out, I'll assist."

O'Hanahan sidled up to Rausgeber, "I'll herd the beasts here, you go out, we'll meet you there."

Ignatious nodded, and walked through the narrow passageways out to the landing bay. He could hear as the Gundark Gunners moving to deploy themselves in the distance. Out on the landing bay, he could see the ground crews setting up fuel bowsers, and equipment to haul away cargo. This was it, Ignatious first customs duty, it was a generally easy job, but his heart was beating like a drum in his chest. Above, he watched as the Dixie made way to land, and waited there silently, for the ship to land, and the docking ramp to extend.

[member="Arisa Yune"]

 

[Kyrel Ren]

​

Kyrel had stood over the place of his defeat, now nothing but a pile of rocks, he stood on a cliff edge overlooking it all. Here is where it all began, and he could still hear the screams, the blaster fire, the roar of TIE fighters and the clash of lightsabers as if such things were only yesterday. He had come here to meditate on the dark side, to meditate in the place where he was defeated by Charlyra Araano the Padawan of the Firemane Order. He had fought her and Jedi Trextan Voidstalker in vicious combat. He gave into his rage in order to take on the both of them, and even with all the power the dark side gave him he was no match for the young girl, they both dealt deadly blows to one another with Kyrel gaining a critical blow by stabbing Charlyra in the stomach, but she, on the other hand, delievered massive damage to Kyrel's suit and left him for dead as she became one with the force with Kyrel's Lightsaber in her hand. His first Lightsaber was now in the hands of the head of their so-called order by the name of Siobhan Kerrigan. Kerrigan, it was a name the Ren despised and even with her daughter known as [member="Mishel Ren"] and had even called her 'The Abomination' For the blood that flowed in her veins, he couldn't help but laugh as a spawn of Siobhan Kerrigan now served the Ren, and with any luck if it won't be Kyrel than it would be her to kill Siobhan. For such an end that was why after the struggle he had taught the new disciple everything he knew of Form V Lightsaber combat just in case, such an event may occur.

Nonetheless, Kyrel found the strength within his defeat, he had grown so much since then in both mind and power, he was arrogant and reckless then, while now he was more calculating and careful of his actions. He had become more aware of his actions and learned not to act so rashly even in anger. He had risen to the rank of Knight of Ren for his bravery and combat prowess. He had crafted a better and powerful lightsaber unlike the unstable one of old, he had conquered Mustafar with the help of his Brothers and Sisters and finally claimed both Lord Vader's Castle and his armor of which he had refitted, modified and even wore at this very moment. He had even passed trials layed for him by an Ancient Sith Spirit and beat him, staving off possession and becoming more powerful in the process by making him a part of himself. Most of all he had faced the Firemane once more and defeated them in combat again. He had indeed come a long way, but today did not seem right as if the force was telling him something, but what he did not know and therefore could only speculate.

He looked at the charred and battle damaged rocky floors for a single moment, before heading back to his speeder. He then felt he had no further use here as he knew it all, he had meditated and fought at this place all because of the atrocities committed in the name of freedom. As the speeder bike went to the city of Saintissa his anger was practically bubbling, as he slowly gripped the handlebars of the bike, but made sure to not crush them. All those innocent men and women killed, all that sparked the conflict that was ongoing, and as Kyrel made his way to the city he made a vow that they would be avenged the moment Sullust would be carrying the First Imperial flag. Nonetheless, Kyrel made his way into the city with great haste sensing a disturbance in the force.

Kyrel found a safe spot to disembark from his speeder and to leave it there as he slowly made his way to a group of Imperials investigating what looked to be a transport. He had approached them in a purposeful stride, his armor weave cape flowing elegently with the gentle breeze that came through. He looked to some of the men and recognized from the cybernetics as the Gundark Gunners with whom he had served with before, along with an officer he had not seen before. He said to them coldly not having the time to introduce himself as he looked around. "I sense something.... Something is not right.... I suggest through investigation of this vessel and send patrols out into the city, I feel that someone or something is here." He said looking around reaching out with the force, for any beings such as Jedi for instance who may have infiltrated the city although he couldn't say, but he had to make certain if such beings were here.

[member="Ignatius Rausgeber"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kaida Taldir"], [member="Tempest"], [member="Joza Perl"], [member="Taryc Ap'Irae"],


The crosshairs of computerized scope attached to HK's shattergun rifle hovered above the head of a stormtrooper in the distance, calculating trajectory for a shot that would propel the hyper-velocity pellet just right and slice the man's throat, sneaking in just between his helmet and chestplate,

"Boom, dead."

The droid whispered as his metal finger hovered over the trigger but did not pull it, the crosshair would dance away then, moving to the next closest stormtrooper off in the distance,

"And you, slice, decapitated."

The scope would be tilted aside still to the next trooper,

"Stab-stab, disemboweled, oh what is this?"

He moved to the next one still,

"You want you friend to give you a hand? Well- ka-shlice-sa- how about I will beat you to death with his arms then? Wham-wham."


HK was trying to occupy himself with planning out his assault upon the FO troopers stationed on Kaeshana should their current plan go awry before the Eldorai ladies decided it was time to move again. The droid got up with them, slinging his rifle onto his back, locking it into its magnetic holster and probably collapsing the weapon to be carried with less difficulty as he jumped off the ledge with them, but while the Tygarans used their jetpacks to gain quick height advantage, HK stayed low, wrapping himself in his cloak to disappear from sight once more, engaging its chameleon properties. Small cloud of dust rose up as he landed and rolled, immediately causing the disturbance to freeze in the air and fall back to its righteous place as it entered his sound dampening field, a trick droids used to hush the sound of their metal feet and rotors, allowing them to move silently by causing the air around them to be still without sound traveling through.

After that it was just question of quick climbing and sneaking under the mantle of his chameleon cloak, waiting for the signal from the rest of the team to proceed and assume identity of one of the guards.

During his movement the droid spotted some activity going on in the orbit in answer to apparently unmarked and unscheduled transport arriving in Kaeshana's orbit, but he made nothing of it, probably just another inspection going on.