Blown Out of Position (Commenor)

[Kay-Larr]

Eldritch Mountains Military Base
Outside Chasin City
Commenor


General Omar Santiago liked to oversee everything when it came to Commenor's military and navy. He knew the men and women under him, had been tasked eith the position of the Minister of Defence because of his great work, yet it wasn't the type of achievement that he enjoyed. On the contrary, he was more of a hands on guy. Despite his hard exterior and steely gaze, he took great care in looking after those beneath him. Santiago was a man of little words, speaking only when he had something to say. That intimidated the other officers, which was fine by him. They performed their tasks much better that way.

Santiago had just recently returned from Folor base. He was quite pleased with the reopening of it, the new starfighter training facility, as well as the decoy base on the other side of the moon. Yet it was here at the EMMB that he really felt at home.

He stood in the middle of the Command Center beneath the mountain and listened as one of his officers brought him up to speed with the goings on in the base. New recruits were coming in, some being relayed to private security around the Palace. The covert Fringe Unit were also doing well in their missions. No details were given as was protocal.

All in all it was starting to be a good day. But little did Santiago know, it would also be his last.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

The art of killing is not only the need, it is the preparation and getting away with it clean and clear with no ties to yourself. The problem with killing someone personally is you risk being seen, risk being on camera, or risk leaving evidence of your presence. Then there is hiring someone, that risks the same risks plus them selling you out later down the road. Darth Ragnarok would not resort to ether in order to get what he wanted. He had already been a mayor in his city so now it was time to step into planet wide politics. First, he needed to free up the position.

For 4 months now he had been had his eyes and hears watching General Omar Santiago. He knew where he slept, what he ate, who he associated with, everything. Two months ago the Eldritch Mountains Military Base had received 5 shipments in metal crates filled with ammunition, a standard delivery. Sitting in the armory were these five crates. They had been gathering dust as once they arrived they had never been moved. That was the point, he saw they never used weaponry so it would go unnoticed.

The day had come for his plan to be put into action. The five crates began to rumble and like a transformer they began to change until they were five simple battle droids. They made their way to their intended location and posted up in Santiago's office. Four of them posted against the back walls near the door and one took a seat at his office chair. The four that were posted up, transformed back into simple, but large ammo crates. Soon the General would arrive to a room with ammo and a droid in his chair. The droid in the chair was the only one not outfitted with weapons, but with a holoprojector.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

It was nearing the end of the day before Santiago decided to leave the Command Center. Of course he'd planned on returning a bit later, but now it was time to eat. So he headed to the messhall. As usual, he got his meals after the rest of his officers. Most Generals would want to eat first, yet Santiago always took it upon himself to eat last. The cooks always left a good portion for him and it always included a large cup of coffee. For him, his shift doesn't end until midnight, so this was his break.

Santiago took his tray with him out of the messhall to his office. At times he had tried to eat in the messhall, but then others always sought to interrupt him. In his office there was peace and quiet.

He opened the door and stepped him, holding his tray with one hand. What first caught his attention as he closed the door was the crates of ammo. What were those doing in here? For inspection? The storage room was full? His eyes narrowed as he set his tray down on his desk and noticed the droid sitting in his chair.

"Get out." That was all that said. Straight and to the point.

[member="Darth Ragnarok"]

 

[Sebastian Blood]

As the man entered the droid sat forward facing him. It ignored the command to leave and lights illuminated from it's face. Before the General was now a tall and slender old man with his face covered and hidden by a mask. The old man motioned to a near by chair. His voice was not raspy as the image would suggest, but it was cold and lacked an inviting feeling and emotion in general. While it was soft and chilling, it had a sense of darkness that made someone dare not disobey. "Welcome General, have a seat, I insist." A smile curled to the dark figure's lips playing a devilish tune rather than an inviting pleasant one. After a few moments, the figure continued, "General, I will be forward with you, today you will die. You may be thinking to yourself, This is impossible' or 'What have I done to deserve death?' I assure you, it is nothing personal and it will happen."

As he was talking the ammo crates began to form back into droids and the ammo inside them were now the ammo for their guns. All of them were leveled at the General. " Let me explain, Life, which you so nobly serve, comes from destruction, disorder, and chaos." The droid that was projecting the image picked up an empty glass from the General's desk. "Now, take this empty glass, here it is: peaceful, serene, boring. But if it is destroyed--" The droid through it on the ground and almost immediately small droids came from the wall and began cleaning up the broken glass leaving it as if nothing happened. "Look at all these little things, so busy now. Notice how each one is useful. What a lovely ballet ensues, so full of form and color. Now, think about all those people that created them. Technicians, engineers, hundreds of people who will be able to feed their children tonight so those children can grow up big and strong and have little children of their own and so one and so forth, thus adding to the great chain... of life." The holographic image smiled an even darker smile, "You see, General, by creating a little destruction, I'm in fact encouraging life. In reality, you and I are in the same business."


[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Unlike other weakminded individuals, General Santiago was not one that took kindly to others insisting that he do anything, other than those that outranked him. Clearly this holo-image did not. So when he was told to have a seat, he just remained where he was and stared, giving one of his hard expressions that showed no fear. In truth, he didn't feel any fear at all when the holo told him that he was going to die. That was a daily risk in his line of work.

He ignored the droids that trained their weapons and cleaned up the broken glass. He was fully aware that they were there, but he chose not to pay attention to them. All of his attention was on [member="Darth Ragnarok"] . "At least I'm not a coward. You hide behind a mask, a holo-image and droids. Do I fear death? No. Do I fear you? No. I've been waiting for you. Every man has a devil and they don't rest until they find them. Yet you disappoint me. Come out from your shadows and masks. Look me right in the eyes while you strike."

Force users. They loved their theatrics.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

A small chuckle lodged itself in the figure's throat at the General's words. In fact, for a moment the Sith considered leaving the General alive, he could prove valuable in Ragnarok's new world order. Alas, this was not to be, leaving him alive only proved problematic. Not only was Ragnarok needing the General's position for his plans, this man was a man of honor. Men of honor were not easily swayed, even the threat of death could not change them. If their honor served Ragnarok that would be a good trait to have, but ragnarok was far from honorable. As they spoke a small door on the droids in the back had opened and four small worms had come out silently. They made their way to the General, softly moving up the General's body.

Ragnarok still did not lift off his hood nor reveal his identity, but he continued only to talk, "You are right that I am your Devil, but you will have to die without the knowledge of who killed you. I shall not waste my plans on such a lowly peasant. Goodbye General." With a lashing movement the four worms shot towards the General's ears. One was bound to slip into the ear canal and into the brain of the General. These were based of the worms of Geonnsis, but alchemized versions made to control people and bend them to Ragnarok's will. The shadowy figured merely stood, watching with anticipation. If this failed, Ragnarok would certainly have a more tough time. The best part of it all was once they got in they took control instantly, but the victim would have no control over their body or voice, but would be very aware of what they were doing. Basically, it was like watching your death and being unable to stop it or say anything in protest. A very sadistic way to die.



[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Santiago stumbled back as soon as he felt the wormlike creatures attacking his ears. His hands shot right up to protect them as he bent over, his fingers working vigorously to try to get a grip on them to pull them out, but they wriggled too quickly. He grimaced, not shouting, not screaming, not wanting to give [member="Darth Ragnarok"] the satisfaction.

It was an odd sensation of having some alien creature boring into his ears. Like an itch that you couldn't scratch. But then he lost control of his arms and legs, he lost control of everything and just fell over onto the floor, landing on his stomach. His body twitched as the creatures took control over his nervous system. "Retribution will come...Mark my words....I know my men.....Commenor.....will.....survive..." His last three words were almost a motto that he had used and stood by for decades. Even the Queen used it in her speeches to bolster morale. It was the truth. Despite who owns the territory, Commenor and it's way of life always survived.

Inside his mind, Santiago was screaming the worst curse words and insults that he knew of. He wasn't scared of what was happening. He was pissed off.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

The hologram smiled, but then faded as the droid took on the hologram and became the figure as if he was really there. He made his way around the table to the General and knelt down gently lifting his chin to bring the General's face up and proceeded to make a disappointing sound, "Tsk tsk tsk, now General we can't be lying down when there is so much to do. Stand up." The worms inside would control the General to make him do exactly what Darth Ragnarok said. Once the order was followed, he would continue, "I see you do not fear this, but your anger, it is welcome. I wonder though, what can break you? Surely your own life is meaningless to you and torture is pointless, how about knowing your death will also be the death of your men? If I had time I would dig deeper into this, but we are on a time crunch so why don't you lead us to the reactor and we will get started."

The droid that was producing the hologram returned to normal and began to walk out with the General as they began their journey. Once they left, the four other droids left in different directions and began slaughtering guards whenever they came across them. It would have put the base on high alert, but the base's communication was offline to prevent such leaks. The killing was for the sole purpose of breaking the General and also tying up the loose ends.


[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Santiago couldn't help it. He got to his feet despite trying to will himself not to. He couldn't speak outside of his inner voice, his consciousness banging against the shell of his body. He wanted to kill this son of a nerf herder with his bare hands, yet he couldn't even move.

So [member="Darth Ragnarok"] wanted to break him? His training years ago and risen him above that. He was made not to spill secrets, was made to kill when necessary. And yet the mention of the reactor caught him by surprise. What was the end game here? To blow up the mountain base? But then what? Their forces were growing and they had bases in a variety of different places. One fallen branch doesn't kill the tree.


He had to warn the others. He had to warn the Queen. But how? His steps and his movements weren't his own. He could hear the screams of his fellow officers dying around him while he walked. His only solace was to hold onto the thought that Commenor would survive.

Now if only he could shut his eyes and stop himself from seeing.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

The two of them, the General and the droid continued their journey through the hall as the other droids were continuing their distraction when two of the General's men showed up and drew their weapons, "General, that droid is apart of the other ones attacking the base. We have your back!" The droid merely spoke a simple message that would strike the General's core, "General, kill them." While the senseless killing seemed chaotic and pointless, it was actually all a test. This was the first time Darth Ragnarok was testing these droids and his alchemized worms and so far they were holding up well, he wanted to know if the General could resist at all.

As expected, should it fail, the droid acting as Ragnarok also had the ability to make himself look like Ragnarok and harness the ability to use a lightsaber and even use Sith Lightning, mechanical version of course. Should the worms fail, the droid would just draw it's lightsaber and cut the general down, drag his body to the reactor and finish it himself. Sometimes in science and experimenting you needed to break a few eggs and do dirty work to get the results for bigger, more complicated means.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Santiago had killed before. He wasn't innocent in that respect. He could do so without much thought. But this was different. This was killing his own men, ones that had done nothing against him or the others. This wasn't killing on the battlefield or killing for mercy. No. He was being commanded to murder them.

He knew that he couldn't fight the order given by [member="Sebastian Blood"] . He had struggled to do so with every step and every scream. Yet as time wore on, he realized how futile it was. So instead he just watched.

Santiago's body acted on it's own, stepping up to one of the men and punching him hard in an uppercut to the nose, causing the bone to pierce the officer's brain. In a split second, he grabbed the blaster with his other hand and turned, firing it at point blank range at the second officer's forehead. Both bodies fell to the floor, their lives taken from them in an instant. They didn't have time to scream, nor time to react. They were just gone.

'At least they died quickly', he thought. Santiago hoped that his end would be just as swift.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

The droid recorded what was happening and through the droid, Darth Ragnarok watched in wonder. He imagined this order would be followed out with two shots to the head, instead the General followed them with very painful deaths. Once it was over, Ragnarok began to chuckle, "Good, good, nice painful deaths. Seems you are more broken than you let on. Keep moving to the reactor." While they continued their journey, Darth Ragnarok began using the droid wirelessly read and record Santiago's vital signs and nerve read outs. His creation was working better than expected. While Santiago had no control, all his vitals were checking out at healthy levels. This meant that the worms could go virtually undetected should they be able to enter undetected. This experiment was going flawless, but they needed to get to the finally quickly to be on time.


[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

More broken? What did [member="Sebastian Blood"] mean by that? He wasn't broken. He was being controlled. And if he could meet the coward hiding behind the visage of a droid, he'd throttle him and beat him with his bare hands until there was nothing left.

But the likelyhood of that happening was zero.

He was going to die today.

Santiago placed his palm on the touchpad to gain access to the reactor room. The door unlocked and slid open, the sound silenced by the humming of the reactor cores working inside to power the facility. No longer was he angry. Instead he was calm. He didn't want to give his enemy the satisfaction of killing his soul as well as his body. Sebastion would get his due. He would be found and destroyed for what he had done. That thought was the only thing that would give him solace in these final moments.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

From his point, Ragnarok smiled. He could feel the anger building in the General. Before the door opened to the reactor, Ragnarok dawned his mask once more. The door slid open and standing in the reactor room was Darth Ragnarok himself. He ordered the droid to completely seal the door making it near impossible to leave the reactor room.

Darth Ragnarok used the Force to kill the worms in the General's head and free him to do as he pleased. His voice was much deeper with the mask on and The Mask of Ragnarok was enchanted to strike Force Fear into the hearts of his enemy's who were weak in the Force. "You wished to face your devil, you will regret such wishes."

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

A mask. Again [member="Sebastian Blood"] hid behind a mask. But what was worse was that the moment that Santiago saw it he was filled with dread and could it be....fear?

Control was soon returned to his body. He felt it happen, it was like waking from a bad dream. Only this bad dream was a nightmare and it's source was in the very room with him.

Santiago's heart pounded in his chest, his breathing quickened. Most would run, and given that he had regained control of his body, that should be what he would do, but fear had a weird way of paralyzing people sometimes. This was one of those moments.

Here was his devil, his dying wish granted. A quick and sudden death; Santiago wished for that now.....

 

[Sebastian Blood]

Darth Ragnarok glared at the poor soul before him with no mercy unless you counted him using the Force to protect the General from the Mask's effects for the time being as a mercy. In reality he was going to make the man suffer and he wanted to give him the opportunity to fight back. He drew no lightsaber, merely his black cane with a snake head was in his hands as he stood there.

Luckily the cameras in the building were not functioning so he could technically show his face, but victory was never a garentee. He would give the General a chance to escape death, but the chance was umfutile as Ragnarok was Sith and this General was just old. "Defeat me and you gain your life back. You will learn how weak you truly are before you die."

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Santiago's heart stopped racing. He stood there staring at [member="Sebastian Blood"] while he hid behind a mask, all the while finding that he was capable of clenching his hands into fists. He was in control.

He narrowed his eyes, his jaw tight as he was presented with a challenge. Defeat the coward before him, and he can end this madness. He can secure the base and put himself in solitary for a while until he was sure that he wouldn't be controlled again. It was a worthy plan. He jyst needed to clear the first objective. Make the coward beg for mercy.

Santiago lept at the man before him to close the gap between them and then punched Ragnarok in the sternum with one hand, while holding out the other to prevent him from blocking with his cane.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

Darth Ragnarok stood there by the aid of his cane. He watched in a slightly slowed down version of the scene before him play out. The man chose to leap forward, almost tempting the Sith to launch him back, but he wanted to savour the beating.

A slow beating provide for a more broken soul.

As the man went for a punch, Ragnarok side stepped out of the way and seized the man's wrist then using his momentum to bring his arm behind him in a hold. Here he could break the arm, but instead he sent his palm to the shoulder blade to only dislocate the shoulder and then let go of the captured wrist. Darth Ragnarok returned to watching his prey while leaning in his cane.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Santiago felt stupid, yet [member="Sebastian Blood"] moved far more swiftly than he'd of thought possible. It must be that Force mumbo jumbo. He grit his teeth as his shoulder was dislocated, yet that was all that he did. He could have rammed his shoulder into the wall in a bid to pop it back in, but regardless, his arm would still be useless.

He narrowed his eyes and turned to face his enemy. He rushed forward again, stopping just close enough to deliver a swift kick to his side, the opposite of where his cane was. His only useful hand gripped the snake head of the cane in a bid to tear it from his enemy's hand.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

Darth Ragnarok could feel the anger rising in the General. The thing with combat is when a superior force showed abrupt power over the weaker it only resulted in a win. Ragnarok already knew he had won, this was already decided, but now he was experimenting on the human spirit and how much a man like Santiago could withstand. This was why Ragnarok toyed with him and let this display happen instead of a simple kill. This man's spirit was strong so it would need a slow burn.

As the kick came in, it struck Ragnarok hard in the side causing him some pain and discomfort that he would detest himself for letting himself get struck later on. As the kick connected, Ragnarok grasped it with one arm. Then with his other arm he brought down the point of his elbow with a swift action aiming for the shin bone. He put enough force that if it connected it would not break his bone, but would crack the bone in multiple directions leaving it almost worse than a break in that he could still stand, but it would cause severe pain. Ragnarok would let the leg go and then pressed a button on his wrist triggering his droid's audio which would play the sounds of the General's men begging for their lives and dying.


[member="Lady Kay"]