Dominion Beltrix and the Beast [GA Dominion of Beltrix III]

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Shadow Station | Bormea Sector
Tag: Miri Nimdok

<I don't think you ever lost it.> He chuckled and watched more and more slavers drop all around him. She was definitely effective, as he was finding it hard to even get close enough to them to engage. Most were taken down long before it, and he simply functioned as a shield for their return fire.

Miri then proposed a plan, and he dipped his head, <Let's do it, the elevator is over there.>

With most slavers taken down on their level, it was easy enough to make it to the elevator and get inside. Stations like these didn't have staircases or else he would have used one. But unlike their mission with Miri's mother, this one luckily didn't stop along the way or tried to kill them.

<Stand by, I'm opening the doors... now!> he exclaimed because the second the two metal doors parted, a group of thugs immediately opened fire to bring the Jedi down within the small elevator room. With his blade, he provided a shield and quickly began to push through while he relied on her to thin the herd a little.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

<At the rate we’re going, I’m going to run out of ammo before we finish up here,> Miri said while they were in the lift. She took the brief break in the fighting to reload her guns; she’d been reloading more often than she would’ve preferred. <I could curb my shooting, so you could get some stabbing and slashing in.>

Of course, once the elevator doors opened, the slavers started shooting at them. Miri returned fire while Kyell used his same strategy of deflecting the bolts with his lightsaber. But he was inching his way out, breaking through the enemy lines while she “thinned the herd”.

<I mean, I don't want to steal all the glory while you just serve as a human... I mean, a lightsaber shield.> A human shield implied something quite different, and rather undignified. <What I mean is, feel free to go after these degenerates. My personal energy shield should absorb a few shots, and I can always take cover.>

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Beltrix
Objective: Help Iris save the slaves
Tag: Iris Arani / Tris

Silas followed behind Iris carefully as they navigated through the facility. The teen nodded back to Iris when she turned, confident that they'd be able to get this done together. He'd known the woman long enough by now, if he didn't believe in her ability he wouldn't have been standing with Iris now.

As they came up to their target, his fellow companion landed on one of the guards, keeping him down for the count as they heard rumblings of slaughter up ahead <<"Slaughter? what are they planning?">> he said to Iris, expecting no answer when they spotted the containers up ahead. Silas moved forward a bit to keep on anything up ahead as Silas got it open to reveal the many blue faces of the chiss. When the teen looked at himself, a frown crossed his face from how much it reminded him of his time in captivity.

"What sick people would do this..."

Shaking off the emotion flowing through his body, he gave a quick nod from Iris's orders to keep a watch "We'll get them out of here... don't worry" he said with a pat on her shoulder before going outside to take up a good position. They needed to be quick, it wasn't going to be long till someone got curious"​

 

[Calix of Thyrsus]

OBJECTIVE II - THE JEDI BROS POWER HOUR
Uncharted Shadowport | Bornea Sector
[ Armor ] [ Lightsaber ] [ Blaser ]
Jand Talo (Stabby Bro) Jasper Kai'el (Dude Bro) Thelma Goth (Goth Bro)

"I say we stick together," Jasper opined, the first to answer.

That made sense. To be honest, now Calix felt stupid for even asking. The way Jasper explained his reasoning, why would they split it? It was probably a bad suggestion on his part...

"I work better alone."

...or, maybe people wanted to go their own path? Seeing the diametric opposites playing out as Thelma chimed in, the boy's blue eyes darted up at the Nagai beside him.

No worries. Jand would cast the tie-break...

"I am ambivalent. I will do whatever is decided."

Calix's expression fell, as the boy delivered a classic tween look of sheer attitude over at Jand.

So, if Jasper wanted to stay together and Thelma wanted to split up... how were they to decide? Should Calix give an opinion?

He was the youngest in the group. He probably shouldn't give an opinion, right? "I. uh," the boy offered, glancing between the two as he began. "I... agree with Jasper?"

Yes, it came out as a question.

No, he wasn't sure.

 

[Thelma Goth]

Jand opted out, forfeiting his vote and leaving them in a deadlock. Thelma stared at Calix… and he agreed with Jasper.

Thelma made a face, but said nothing. She was the only person in the group on her side. Everyone else either didn’t care, or wanted to stick together.

“Fine,” she grumbled. “Let’s go.”

Calix of Thyrsus Jand Talo Jasper Kai'el​

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Beltrix
Tags: Calix of Thyrsus, Jand Talo , Thelma Goth ​

Thelma wanted to run off on her own, which he wasn't surprised by. Strangely, she fumbled with her words, as if there were more than she was letting on. Peculiar, but they had more pressing matters. Jand didn't care either way and Calix sided with him, so Thelma relented.

"Alright then," Jasper nodded. "I have a plan, in case anyone was wondering."

Jasper had come a long way since his hot headed days of running in blindly. He had come to appreciate strategy, and he had a pretty good idea of how they were to succeed.

"Any of you familiar with ancient warfare?" he began, continuing to deflect blaster bolts. "It was melee based back then, where soldiers formed lines of heavy infantry and faced off in open areas. It may seem unrelated, but I've noticed something..."

The slavers, though clearly untrained, had a line of sorts. They had formed a wall, which they hoped through a hail of blaster fire would deter any attackers from charging at the line.

"You may not see it, but they've formed a line of sorts," Jasper explained. "These slavers have a formation, one that allows them to communicate and cover their allies. But take a look over there," the padawan gestured to a gap in their formation, a sizable one where a few Jedi could reasonably split them up. "We make a charge for the gap and break the line, separating their units. Their formation scatters. From there, we move through their ranks and clean up. Quick, decisive, and organized."

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Shadow Station | Bormea Sector
Tag: Miri Nimdok

<I... would rather not,> he said in response to her comment about stabbing and slashing some slavers. Of course, he understood that taking lives here was inevitable, but it wasn't as easy to him as it seemed to be to her. They were still living beings, and if he had even a chance to not kill and still neutralize them as threats, he'd take it without a second thought. That's what Master Yenna would want him to do.

The elevator doors then opened, and they were quick to continue what they had started at one of the upper levels. Many of their enemies weren't as well trained, certainly not compared to a Jedi, so the path to those they wanted to free was freeing up more and more.

However, Kyell seemed to get a little bit more agitated, <This isn't about glory, Miri,> he said, his tone unusually frustrated. <We're here to help people. If I can do that by just deflecting these bolts, I'm fine with it.>

He let out a soft sigh and even though she was blasting through ammo, he kept doing what he had been doing. It was their best strategy, and he'd maintain it until they no longer could.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

The frustration in Kyell’s response made Miri stop and realize what she’d just said. She was used to being the only person in the room who didn’t consider slavers to be inhuman monsters, and yet here she was carelessly talking about the glory of killing them.

Intellectually, she knew she shouldn’t be so flippant—but on an emotional level, she felt nothing. Perhaps it was only a coping mechanism, severing her empathy so that she could tolerate the slaughter better.

Or maybe there’s something wrong with you, a still soft voice suggested.

<I was only joking,> she said, but she didn’t sound very certain. <I am running out of ammo, though. Heads up.>

She heard the click of one empty magazine, then the other shortly after. Rather than trying to reload in the middle of a firefight, she simply switched to her shotgun. The brief window of time it took her to make the exchange left her open to attack. Her energy shield absorbed a few stray bolts as she raised the barrel of the gun—only to feel a sudden sharp impact between her shoulder blades. She whirled around, coming face to face with a wide-eyed slaver, and blew him away with a shotgun blast.

<I think I have a knife sticking out of my back,> she said. The pain was dull; it felt more like someone had slapped or punched her than a puncture wound, but she knew that was the typical experience of something who had been stabbed in the back. There were fewer nerve endings there, less feedback. Presumably the blade hadn't reached her heart, or else she'd be dying...

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Jand Talo]

SILVER LININGS
Equipment

The decision was made to remain as a group.

Jand continued to deflect blaster-fire, even as Jasper began to explain the outline of a method to engage the slavers. It seemed that there was some weakness in their defenses the other had noticed, which the Nagai could attest to. And if there was an opportunity to break through opponent ranks and deliver a concise strike to defeat them, Jand was all for taking that option.

"I will draw their attention for a short time," Jand said to the others, as he reached down and twisted the emitter of his lightsaber. The blade pulsed, energy enhanced, as the white-blue beam became thicker. "Use my distraction to break through the gap, and then I will meet you in the middle."

Of the group, each was a skilled combatant, yet the Nagai felt he was more suited to the task. Between the combination of his superior speed and dexterity, and the utilization of his weapons Kunda Lens, Jand was more likely to succeed in avoiding injury or death.

"Go."

Jand rushed toward the slaver position, opposite where the others would, and began to draw fire as he whirled and spun and flipped before the defensive line, his blue blade a tornado of movement as he parried blaster-fire...

Allies: Calix of Thyrsus | Jasper Kai'el | Thelma Goth
Engaging: Slavers​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Shadow Station | Bormea Sector
Tag: Miri Nimdok

<A joke...> He didn't sound very convinced but tried his best to leave it there for now. They could talk about it more later if they wanted to, and he definitely wanted to make sure everything was okay, but right now they were being shot at. So he pushed aside his lingering doubts and pushed forward more, knowing her ammo was running low. If he was close enough to the slavers, he'd draw more attention, allowing her to switch weapons and use different tactics.

It, however, also meant she didn't have quite as much cover. Kyell didn't believe it to be a problem because of her energy shield, but the stinging pain he felt echoing through their Force bond quickly changed his mind. He turned to look over his shoulder, right as Miri blasted the attacker who had managed to circle around.

There's a knife in her back

He gritted his teeth and pushed his hand out to send a telekinetic blast toward the few who remained, sending them all flying across the metal floor to neutralize them for a moment. There was a lot more power behind it than he expected himself, but it didn't matter. <It needs to come out or it might end up pushing in deeper.> Or worse, she could fall on her back and it'd be over.

He rushed over, made sure there was no immediate threat, and took her hand so she had something to squeeze, <This will hurt, but here goes. One, two-> Yoink. Rather than waiting for her to expect it, he drew the knife out on count 2 and threw it down to the ground. <Let's stop the bleeding before we push on, and tell me if you feel like you're losing strength, okay?> Kyell was clearly worried that she'd black out or that it was more threatening than it looked, so he needed confirmation from her.

 

[Iris Arani]

"We're not here to judge the people who did this. Just help the people like them get out. Focus on that." Anger, the desire for vengeance, all manner of emotions weren't going to be welcome here, not if they wanted to help these people. Iris turned her gaze elsewhere, towards the next container. Domxite was already guiding those that needed the help out. A couple had already started to arm themselves with the weaponry of the slavers they'd already taken out.

"To the next. Open the door, I'll take care of the guards."

And like that she was off. She brought her blue saber down on one of the guards, the silent edge just knocking them out. It was more than they deserved, but the quiet of the blade let her spring on the next before they realized what was happening. And already her gaze turned elsewhere to try and make sure no one noticed them. Not yet.

But panic was going to start going through the camp. Time wasn't on their side.

Silas Westgard | Tris

 

[Tris]

Silver Linings

Iris Arani | Silas Westgard | Jand Talo | Jasper Kai'el | Thelma Goth | Calix of Thyrsus |
​

There was a zap and a snap near her neck and Tris flailed, startled out of her near black-out, flinging the droid away. Were they feeding them to some kind of beast? Was she being experimented on? A heavy weight dropped from her neck and a flood of sensation came to her as her body instinctively reached out to the Force. No, not reach, grasped. Tris tugged at the Force and drank it in, relishing in the return of feeling and senses that she had been without for months. Using the Force wasn't supposed to be addictive but she thought this was what it would feel like.

She did not wait for the others, she did not follow the little droid or the orders of these Jedi. Instead, she roared, anger fueling her, and with an effort, tore one of the blast doors from its housing and flew through the gap, showering the room in sparks. She would kill every last one of these slavers, and no one was going to stop her.

Hair ragged from months of not washing and dressed in a patchy black flight suit she stalked through the station. The slavers thought they'd have a chance against the malnourished, scrawny Chiss woman and opened fire. Red bolts streaked past her as she tapped into Third Sight for the first time in what felt like an eternity. The Sight opened up to her, showing her not only the path of the bolts but also glimpses of things she did not need for her slaughter. Glimpses of the slaver's possible futures. The closer she got the more they shifted into various possibilities of death at her hands. She snarled and tore two panels from the walls, ripping them from their bolts and exposing wire and cables. The bolts sizzled and died on the durasteel. She could taste the panic in the air as she stalked closer, hiding behind her wall of metal. With the flick of her wrist, she sent one spinning at dizzying speeds towards one of the slavers, catching him just above the waist and pinning him to the wall, the panel bisecting him, allowing the two halves to tumble over the metal in different places. The halves hit the floor with a sickening thwack. She crushed the other's blaster, catching his hand in her grasp. He screamed in pain that was short-lived. She reached for the blaster again, this time detonating the power pack inside causing a violent explosion that left the man's face a charred mess.

The carnage continued deeper into the station. She was like a starweird as she stalked the halls looking for her prey, eyes aglow like firey coals in the dim passageways.

"Devil-eyed queen," moaned one of the slavers in his death rattles. She paused and cocked her head curiously before crouching down to stare the man dead in the eyes.

"Devil? No," her chapped and cracked blue lips curled into a wicked smile. She leaned in close and whispered into his ear. "A Nightdragon." With a twitch of her head, she snapped the man's neck.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Kyell’s reaction was immediate and visceral. With the Force he knocked the remaining slavers back, sending them flying across the room. Then he was at Miri’s side, insisting they needed to pull the knife out.

<Well, yes, but once you pull it out—> He yanked the blade from between her shoulder blades, causing a fount of blood to well up from the wound.

All the color drained from Miri’s face. <I’m not sure you should’ve done that,> she said, clinging to Kyell’s shoulder.

They couldn’t stay like this. Not in the middle of battle. Miri could sense the slavers rousing themselves for another charge. More arrived, adding to their numbers.

<Stop the bleeding,> she said, her attention elsewhere. <I’ll take care of the slavers.>

Hypersensitivity to the Force was rarer than her losing her ability to feel it altogether, but it tended to strike when her body went into shock or she was under grave stress. She felt it now, as if she’d been opened to the world and the world had come flooding in. It put a strain on her, but also made her feel powerful. As if she could simply reach out and stop the slavers, killing them instantly, putting an end to it all. Then it would be quiet, and safe...

Physical senses dulled, her own heart's blood leaking down her back, Miri reached out with the Force and stopped their hearts from beating.

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Calix of Thyrsus]

OBJECTIVE II - THE JEDI BROS POWER HOUR
Uncharted Shadowport | Bornea Sector
[ Armor ] [ Lightsaber ] [ Blaser ]
Jand Talo (Stabby Bro) Jasper Kai'el (Dude Bro) Thelma Goth (Goth Bro)

The young Thyrsian withered underneath the girl's glare.

Had he made the wrong choice? Should he not have said anything?

Luckily, Jand was focused on the task at hand. "I will draw their attention for a short time," the Nagai stated. "Use my distraction to break through the gap, and then I will meet you in the middle."

Exhaling, the afro-headed boy drew back his left arm. There was a mechanical whirl and a crackle of static energy as the armor's shields began to charge up.

"I'll head straight up the middle to clear a path," the Thyrsian offered, even as he recalled what Jasper had said to him. Level heads... level heads... level heads...

When the Nagai gave the word, the youth plunged forward. His left arm brandished as the overlay shield created a barrier in front of the remaining trio. The micro-thrusters on the armor kicked in, propelling the boy in a short burst that quickly closed the gap as the privateers and slavers realized the coming storm.

Adjusting to more of a sword-and-board style, the boy notably did not draw on Form V as he methodically worked his way among the shooters. By making himself the most visible, he hoped to draw their fire at him -- where his armor and shielding could provide more protection than what Jasper or Thelma were wearing.

 

[Thelma Goth]

While the other members of the team had much more clear-cut strategies, Thelma simply threw herself into the heat of combat, violently dispatching their enemies wherever they stood. She at least waited for the signal from Jand before proceeding, but once she started, chaos reigned.

The slavers seemed a bit bewildered by the short-statured teenage girl who fought like a wild animal, biting and scratching as well as stabbing and slashing at them with her lightsaber. One screamed as she pounced on him; another cried out to his allies for help.

Thelma ducked and rolled into cover just in time to evade a volley of blaster bolts headed straight for her. She had been hit a few times, as evident by the bruises, cuts, and lacerations scattered across her body, but her injuries didn’t seem to bother her, regardless of how severe they were. As soon as there was a break in the shooting, she flung her lightsaber up at the rafters, sending bits of debris crashing down upon the shooters. Then she was out and about again, back in the fight.

Calix of Thyrsus Jand Talo Jasper Kai'el​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Shadow Station | Bormea Sector
Tag: Miri Nimdok

<I'm not sure you should've done that,>

He watched the blood rush out of the wound and gulped, quietly so she wouldn't hear it. Yeah maybe I shouldn't have... he thought. Too late to change it, though, so he quickly applied pressure and offered her the support she needed to stay on her feet. The last thing they needed now was for her to black out due to blood loss, so he was quick to work on the injury and let her lean on him as much as she needed to.

But even as he applied what little first aid training he had, Miri was not out of the fight quite yet. Her connection to the Force, in fact, only seemed to have heightened, much to Kyell's surprise. He had felt it slip before, and it had resulted in some awkward moments, but he hadn't seen her quite like this yet.

<Miri...> he muttered, almost a little frightened of the power he felt rising within her.

Then, as if the slavers were no threat to them at all, she wiped the whole group instantly. With their hurts crushed, their bodies collapsed and the scene turned from chaotic to completely quiet from one moment to another. Kyell's eyes widened because of it. Because she used the Force to kill that way, and he seemed uncertain about what to say.

<Are... you okay?> He finally asked when he turned to her with great concern in his eyes. <What happened?>

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri blinked watering eyes. She had felt each death that she caused, and the vacuum that followed. It was so quiet now.

“I… I only wanted it to stop,” she murmured, speaking aloud to fill the eerie silence.

The hypersensitivity lasted only a few moments. Then it was gone, leaving her drained. She leaned against Kyell, struggling just to stay on her feet.

<The refugees,> she said weakly. <We still have to save them…>

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Tallara]

Valery Noble Aldric Laurent
​

Kiv Frumm shook his head and looked back down at his datapad.

"No need. Just sit there. We'll be out in an hour, then you can go back to... protecting."

"Kiv."

"Yes, yes."

"Tallara."

"Yes, sir?"

"Incapacitate anyone who gets too close to the storehouse. If hostile, kill them."

"Yes sir." She gave a sharp salute, then moved briskly off to patrol the perimeter.

The warehouse was about four hundred meters long and a third that wide; four docking bays at the far end fed large speeders with boxes full of blasters, ammunition and explosives. The rest of the building was filled with those same boxes, stacked on shelves that went from wall to wall. The warehouse itself was built cheap; thin metal paneling with a few supports, a tin-adjacent roof. A sufficiently determined and equipped intruder could likely cut through the walls to make entry. Otherwise, the only entrances were at the docking bays and the offices.

On a tight timeframe, the likeliest angle for intrusion was at the bays. A few guards milled about there already, plain-clothes security keeping an eye on the loading process. Tallara decided to take up her watch on the roof of a nearby building, close to where she'd guess a potential infiltrator might take position to strike. For the first time in a long time she found herself making a plan of her own to get in and sabotage the shipments.

Even in her attempts to focus, though, she found her thoughts intruding, wondering if this was right. Where were the weapons going? Who would use them? Against whom? They weren't relevant to her work, but she asked herself nonetheless.

No, best not to disturb the viceroy, or his son. It was more trouble than it was worth.

Just focus. Find the incongruities. Her eyes scanned the periphery. In silence, hidden from every eye she could, nothing would escape her, surely. There was no room for doubt.

Doubt made room for itself, finding comfort between what she knew and what she didn't -- and there was quite a lot of room there.

 

[Aldric Laurent]

"Yeahhh, I didn't know it'd be that heavily fortified, but we still made it out, right?"

"Miraculously in one piece," Aldric teased with a smirk, but then added, "We made it through that, we'll make it through this."

They had a good view of the facility from here. The loading bay accommodated large speeders brimming with crates, the contents of which he could only assume. There was likely much more inside. The Imps were wasting no time in propelling this conflict even further. "Let's see what we can do quietly. I'd like to avoid as much bloodshed as possible. Setting my blaster to stun for now, as well. Leaving behind a pile of bodies isn't exactly good PR." Depending on how things went, they might not have a choice. But if it could be helped, best to keep the Beltrix locals out of the morgue.

A pair of guards walked past, still a ways away, but close enough that Aldric and Valery needed to slink back behind cover to avoid being spotted. "We'll start with that patrol. I'll move in and take them out quickly. After that, we'll try the loading bay. You check our perimeter, make sure no one else is watching." With that, Aldric would check the street again before sneaking closer to the facility, catching up behind the patrolling guards until he was in range, and readying a stun shot for each of them.

Valery Noble | Tallara​

 

[Valery Noble]

Beltrix III

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Aldric Laurent Tallara

"We will," Valery agreed before she took a good position alongside him that allowed her to oversee their target. It was much larger than she had expected it to be for a group of sympathizers, but then again, they were being supplied by the Empire. It just meant her plan of blowing it up would not work — too many people lived close to this facility, and they'd all get caught in the blast.

"We might be able to sneak in and sabotage a few things, perhaps learn how these weapons are being shipped all the way out here," she added quietly to what he had to say about their approach. Sadly, she couldn't stun people with her lightsaber, so her focus was going to be on providing cover and using her senses to be aware of what happened around them. Even if she couldn't see a potential threat, she could feel it before it became too dangerous to handle.

Aldric then laid out the rest of the plan, and made his approach to the guards, while Valery wasn't close behind. She felt more within the structure, as expected, but none that she could see. Yet... there was this strange tension she felt in the Force, and it bugged her enough to get closer to Aldric after he stunned the two guards without much of a problem, "I don't see anything, but something feels off." She had that slightly worried look he knew better than most, but there was no way she'd give up.

"Let's move along the wall and enter the bay. I can get through the wall without alerting them, so I'll flank around and give them a good scare."