Blood and Glory

[grammaticus]

The Titan moved through the empty void of space silently. The old flagship of Dark Council member Darth Animus was taking its final journey with the Council member aboard. Afterwards, it would be present for the changing of the flags, as Animus took command of the newly completed Eternal Fury. Despite the necessity and practicality of the change, Animus felt oddly saddened at the prospect of surrendering the Titan. He had already selected one of the most promising young officers in the Jen'ari Navy to take command of the ship, yet he still felt for the coming loss.

Animus was currently in his private quarters, looking over and repairing one of his lightsabers. It had been damaged in his most recent campaign for the Jen'ari Empire, when a stray blaster bolt from a Chiss soldier had grazed it. The damage was minor, yet the wiring inside had been fused together. He risked the weapon exploding in his hand every time he used it unless he fixed it. Such a menial taks might have been given to another, yet Animus always did his own weapon and armor repairs. It helped build his trust and reliance of the equipment if he was the one to look after it. It was also easier to ensure no one tampered or sabotaged it.

Putting the tools down, Animus lifted the blade off the desk in front of him, holding it in the air and pressing the activation button. The crimson blade shot out with the familiar snap hiss, filling the dimly lit chamber with a red haze. Deactivating the blade, Animus walked over and placed it on the stand next to his armor and other weapons. He had some time to relax before the ceremony began.

[member="Grond"]
[member="Darth Hashira"]

 

[Darth Hashira]

Location: Hyperspace, aboard The Hornet's Nest (http://starwarsrp.net/topic/136859-ferrata-class-corps-assault-carrier/)


''Darth Hashira, we will be exiting hyperspace soon.'' the commander of the vessel entered the private chambering the three Sith Lords. She was a tall, thin woman whose skin complexion was as pale as milk. She smiled at Hashira who only growled in response, dismissing her with faint wave. He turned to the two Sith Lords also assigned on the mission as well. Darth Grond was famous throughout the Sith Empire for his nigh-indestructible armor. He forged each set as is it was his last, slaving over every last detail until perfect. Darth Mortisimus was a Witch Spellweaver turned Sith Lord. The head warlock of his coven, he briefly traveled off-world from Dathomir where he was promptly met with the widespread ideology of the Sith Empire. He never returned to Dathomir, enrolling in the academy and rapidly rising to the rank of Sith Lord.

Hashira looked over the two of them with contempt and doubting.

''The vessel Animus will be commanding'' he stood up and activated a large holotable revealing stolen blueprints of Animus' ship ''is heavily defended, however it has no hanger. We have dozens of boarding pods awaiting us in our hangers which we will use to board the bridge of the ship. Each of us will take a separate one and regroup on the bridge. We will be accompanied by 10 fighter squadrons who will create a diversion to the attack while we get close enough to board. You will also have your personal guard with you on your boarding pods.'' Hashira left no time for questioning as he stormed out of the chamber and descended to the hanger, not looking back for his fellow Sith Lords.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once inside the hanger, Hashira donned his armor and entered the boarding pod with his personal guard. in just a moment the ship lurched out of hyperspace. From the doorway to the boarding pod he saw it, Darth Animus' ship. Hashira flipped down his mask and shut the door to the boarding pod.

''Pilot! Get us over there!''

Suddenly, several squadrons of Demolisher TIE Heavy Bombers and Shadow Droid Fighters simultaneously and systematically exited the various hangers of the vessel and covered the surrounding airspace. They scrambled over to the vessel to begin bombardment...

 

[Warmaster Nyâsh]

Darth Grond was staring at no particular thing, turned away from both these ... lords of the Sith. His mind was drifting to the bounty he set up, but couldn´t place yet due to the call by one of his superiors to join this mission. This mission.

He was an inquisitor, a razor in the countless arsenal of blades, guns and hammers of the Sith Empire and ordered to join this butchering work of bounty hunters. Grond was hunting and investigating for a goal, to stabilise the Empire, to spread the order and beliefs of the Sith. Sure, this was an enemy of the Empire, but he was an open enemy, a war goal. Grond is no dog of war, no hound unleashed from the chain to rip off flesh in the machine called war.

His thoughts were disturbed by the ship captain entering the chamber and calling the three lords. The least of the three, Darth Hashira, some Massassi breed, slim and already painful to look at and call equal, was then giving orders. He would follow, duty demands it and his discipline was unquestionable.

Instead of rushing, he doesn´t even know the real meaning of this word, he was walking with calmly placed steps towards the hangar and one of the boarding pods. Grond valued his life far too high for jumping into such vessels. Covering behind the random factor of a shot not hitting the vessel and annihilating the entire existance of all its passengers without mercy, without care, without the knowledge of the shooter who he killed.

It was not made for his size, especially not for his helmet. But the opportunity to get blown up and send to the emptiness was too present to enter without. In a very uncomfortable position he was seating himself and waiting for the pilot to start and bring him where they were meant to go.

[member="Darth Animus"]​

[member="Darth Hashira"]​

 

[grammaticus]

Alarms filled Animus's quarters, drawing him out of his meditation. He rose up from the mat he had been resting upon and began walking towards the door. He waved his arm through the air, drawing his armor and weapons to him from the rack where they waited. The armor floated into place, latching into place and securing itself. Moments later the three sabers connected to his belt. He emerged from his quarters fully prepared for whatever threat my come his way.

He made his way to the bridge, gripping one of the hand rails as explosions ran through the vessel, followed moments later by a small squadron of starfighters flew by the bridge. A volley of laser fire shot up after them, with two of vessels erupting in flames as they were downed. The Commander turned his attention away from the battle at hand, bowing his head slightly as Animus took his position at the center of the bridge. "My Lord, an enemy carrier dropped out of hyperspace several hundred kilometers to our port. Their power signatures and hull design match those of Sith Empire." Anything more to be said was cut off as another flight of bombers moved in, dropping their payloads. The gunner crews were ready this time though, and the enemy ships took heavy losses as they tried to pull away.

"Bring us about and advance on the Sith Empire vessel. Target them with all weapons and open fire the moment we are lined up. Send a message to regional command, I want reinforcements here at once." As his orders were carried out, Animus walked towards the front of the bridge, his eyes locking on the distant outline of the Sith Empire ship. Moments later missiles and turbolaser fire shot from the Titan towards the enemy ship. The odds were not in their favor if this battle dragged out for long, not alone against this many enemy ships. His best hope was to hold the line and hope word got to the rest of the true Empire.

[member="Grond"]
[member="Darth Hashira"]

 

[Darth Hashira]

Hashira held onto the upper railing in the boarding pod as it bumped and and clattered through the large gap between the two ships. He let his anger brew and stir within him, fueling his power by using his deep seated anger for the Jen'Ari as fuel. Animus would soon be dead, and Vyrassu next, eventually leading to the collapse of the Jen'Ari. All appeared to be going well with the attack, the bombers were successfully lowering the shields of the vessel and the fighters were keeping pressure on the turrets as well. Hashira suddenly felt sick, his stomach seemed to drop to the bottom of his torso. He felt something coming.

''INCOMIN-'' the pilot screamed, being cut off by the sudden violent eruption of the vessel. The drop pod Hashira was being carried in suddenly split into a million pieces along with all of the crew. Hashira floated in space, having used his master of Force Phase to escape danger. He saw the vessel of the Titan and concentrated on it. He felt the crew inside of it, each member frantic and afraid to some degree. He channeled their fear and pinpointed it, letting it fuel him even further. He closed his eyes and when he opened them he was on board the command center of the vessel. His attempt at Force Teleportation was successful.

He reached into his cloak, around his hip area, and retrieved his lightsaber (similar to the one the ancient Force User Kylo Ren used) and ignited it, it's blade unstable with raw unadulterated power. He pulled a senior officer into it's blade and rapidly threw him off, severing him. He locked eyes with Animus. He felt a sudden jolt in the ship, Mortisimus or Grond must have landed off target in the hull of the ship. He attempted to use Force Fear on the remaining crew, as well as Animus.

Hashira jumped across the cabin at Animus, launching a storm of Force Lightning at him while in mid air. When he landed a few meters away, he fell into a Vaapad stance and launched into a series of rapid and aggressive strikes to test his opponent's guard.

[member="Darth Animus"]
[member="Grond"]

 

[Warmaster Nyâsh]

Grond entered the enemy vessel a few second after his boarding pods breached its hull. His entrance was shortly below the ships bridge, only two decks according to the ships plan. Humming in his hand was Angruin, his large lightsaber, while walking through the destruction the pod caused in the corridor. There was ... nobody shooting at him nor at his team. 'His team' were some soldiers of an unknown unit, he never fought with them nor did he know them, so he could not rely on them.

The tall Sith Lord moves through down the corridor. His tactical display was in red-vision, analysing the structure and scanning the area. The unit of stormtroopers suddenly rushed in front of him, covering the way with their blasters, creating overlapping firezones while moving in excellent formation forward, exploiting every cover they can get. Grond was ignoring their tactical approach, he was walking in the midth of the corridor.

Suddenly chaos unleashed itself. Some flashbangs were thrown in the corridor, followed by frag grenades. The explosions were shaking Grond in his armor and he felt some of the shrapnels bouncing and scratching off of his plated body. Several of the stormtroopers were catched fof-guard and killed, some others were blinded and looking away or shaking their heads to lose the desorientation. A squad of enemy marines pushed forward, in equal disciplined formation, killing several more of Grond troopers with flashing blasters. They were equally professional and soon they would advance through the cover which the stormtroopers attemtped to seize a moment before.

Closing the distance while deflecting and blocking with his lightsaber, Grond already smashed the first two to of them against each other, the bloodcurdling cracking of bones could be heard even through the blaster fire. Another one of the squad was hit by his very own blaster bolt. After his team lost another two men, the Sith troopers finally managed to catch their orientation again and started firing back, laying a good cover for Grond who now increased his speed.

As soon as he was between them, they were slaughtered, attempting to shoot him on point blank or to stab him with their combat knifes they lost their lifes due to his omnipresent lightsabers and his heavy armor. The Sith Lord had by now his second lightsaber ignited and was hacking and slashing himself through the enemies whos morale soon broke and they retreated, followed by the unit of Grond which was still shooting and advancing, pushing them away.

Grond stood still, breathing in his helmet, but the motion couldn´t be seen from outside. Good, he thought, I am warmed for this traitor. With a single motion he called the elevator in which front door he was standing now, the noise of the fight still being near.

[member="Darth Animus"] [member="Darth Hashira"]​

 

[grammaticus]

Animus sensed the presence of the enemy aboard the ship even before the warnings were called out across the bridge. Turning away from his position, he walked towards the doors of the bridge, Grotthu Legionaries forming up on either side of him and following their master off the bridge. He made his way down the hallway connecting the bridge to the rest of the vessel, never breaking stride as the ship shook around him, and crewman and soldiers alike ran across his path. Around the bend in the corridor emerged a half dozen enemy soldiers, each carrying blasters they snapped to firing positions the moment they saw Animus. However it was too late for them, as the moment Animus had seen them he ignited one of his sabers at his side and threw it at the enemy, his hands themselves never moving, and only the force guiding it. The bodies crumpled to the ground before they even fired a single shot, and the saber returned to its place as its masters hip.

Animus never missed a single step in the fight.

Coming to the end of the corridor, Animus waved for the Grotthu Legionaries to take positions around the turbolift door, their blasters lining up and establishing crossifres. Animus himself stood in the middle of the corridor, his hands resting at his side calmly as he waited for his foes to come. At the moment he needed to protect the bridge, but once he had dealt withe the first wave of enemy force, he could move to retake his ship.

[member="Grond"] [member="Darth Hashira"]