Burned Books and Pickaxes (Lords of the Fringe)

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Carach"]

The throne rotated to face him; Ashin was in no hurry.

"My title is Grand Admiral, Lord Carach. Admiral Varanin or Arbiter Varanin; both are appropriate. Welcome to Fringe territory." Or close enough. "I believe this is the first time a member of the One Sith has been aboard the Chimaera."

 

[Sannika Brynn]

Rogue Three's Eraser exited hyperspace a good hundred kilometers outside the orbital event horizon of Halm, its Copycat: Sprite device activating and awaiting signal contact with any nearby vessels. And the nearest vessel seemed to be quite the vessel. "Yo, they weren't joking about a ginormous battleship." The tukian bit her lip as she waited on the rest of the Rogues and assessed the situation. Of course, Rogue Lead would be the one who made the final call.

"Do we gun for it, or do you think there's more where that came from?" Oh, there definitely were more where that came from, considering the size of it. And was anyone already touched down on the ground? Decisions, decisions. Sannika was glad she was not in charge.

[member="Juwiela Melec"], [member="Thane Drexel"], [member="Roth TIllian"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

'So it seems, Admiral Varanin.' the Sith Lord replied, before looking out of the viewport. The planet of Halm, mostly known for its crystal, gem and mineral economy, it had been mined for a long time now - every once in a while they still found valuable and rich veins though. Pleasant surprise for the Fringe Confederation.

What was he doing here? Perhaps plan ahead. He doubted the One Sith would stay the mammoth it was right now, too many Sith in once place, all thinking they were pretty much the baddest in town. Ain't gonna end well. Creating contacts had been Ovmar's forte, perhaps it would be his too.

'Our allegiance is shaky at best.' merely an observation, perhaps the beginning of something else.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Carach"]

"I fought against the One Sith at Carida just like I fought the Republic at O'reen. I believe I once told one of your masters to tell your Dark Lord he could either get off Carida or I'd kill him and bind his soul to something scatological. I've said similar things to Jedi Council members. But I'm loyal to the Fringe Confederation, and you are our allies as of now, which takes enmity off the table. I don't deal with nations, Lord Carach; I deal with people. If I find worthwhile people in any given color scheme, I work with them."

 

[Thane Drexel]

[member="Sannika Brynn"] [member="Juwiela Melec"] [member="Geneviève Lasedri"]

Dropping out of hyperspace, the Whiskey Shooter, a Nevermore class bomber, formed up behind the rest of Rogue Squadron.


"Rogue 4 in position, let's cause some havoc for these Fringers."

Thane toggled the weapons systems to active and primed all torpedoes for when he needed them. The next step was to wait for Rogue Leader's word to strike.




http://starwarsrp.net/topic/35177-echo-esb-8a-nevermore/

 

[Allyson Locke]

Dem Tunnels

The sparks died after cooking everything in my vicinity. I always forgot how much it took out of me to absorb and then transfer the manifestation into something controlled. I sensed more around me, but from my judgement I still had some time to catch my breath. Leaning once again against the cave I took in a deep breath and sighed. This armor was something, but I still didn't unlock its full potential. I smiled softly realizing my genius when I used the lightsaber to my advantage in an unorthodox way. Guess it was a good thing to keep this light sword around. Clipping it back to my side, I took another deep breath. The tunnel now smelled of cooked but probably burnt meat.

I hated that smell. A hand moved quickly over my mouth as it held back throwing up my salad from earlier. "Ugh, there's still more" I sensed once more, this time instead of catching just the two slower moving auras, I felt something else. Standing, the lightsaber flew to my hand once more. There was more coming I didn't know what exactly, but they were moving quick a whole lot quicker than the other creatures and the figures who were now behind me. My heart raced and then something pinged in the back of my head, I looked up and knew that [member="Ashin Varanin"] was close by - but why? It would be stupid to deny the fact that a part of me was relieved that she was close, but it caught me more by surprise - something more was happening, something I wasn't quite aware of.

[member="Seren Ordavo"] [member="Nui Akona"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

‘A familiar way of working, Admiral Varanin. I think that we co-’ it was then that the Sith Lord noticed the franking back and forth between the various men and women on the bridge. It seemed that something had them worried, behind his mask Carach rose his eyebrow on the whole affair.

What could there be of worry, when you were the one in the Star Destroyer?

It seemed technovirused ships was the name of the game today.

'You have my assistance.' he simply said.

 

[Juwiela Melec]

"If they're going to bring in support, we're already outgunned." It wasn't that Juwiela was trying to lower their morale, she was merely making an observation. The odds of a squadron of pilots against a Star Destroyer weren't the most promising, but she was far from ready to give up. They might have been outclassed in a few areas, but they still had maneuverability on their side. That would be the most important tactic to exploit, next to the smaller size of their ships that would allow them to easier escape the gunners' sights. Oh, the advantages of being a starfighter pilot.

Her unique way of seeing would be an advantage in this scenario, as it allowed her to perceive the world around her in its entirety with no blind spots whatsoever. This also included being able to, consequently, study the Force signatures of those inside the enemy ship. The two that stuck out the most to her were, unsurprisingly, more skilled than she. Not that their ability to wield the energy field would be coming into play in this scenario. It would all come down to the finer points of piloting. "Let's bring it in and get the job done. I can't see any starfighters of their own, so we'll have the advantage there."

Flicking a switch she activated her own ship's Copycat: Sprite system, connecting with Rogue Three's vessel and marking the ship as a friendly. That was one potential disaster of the day avoided.

"Ready to show 'em how it's done?" A small smile turned up the corners of her mouth, and she brought her ship in closer, slowly increasing speed. "I know it should be obvious, but try to stay out of the range of their guns if you can help it. Make those your primary targets. The sooner we take those out, the quicker this is all done and over with." One way or another, the Rogues would come out of this. Whether or not they would be victorious would be the variable.

[member="Thane Drexel"], [member="Sannika Brynn"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Carach"]
[member="Juwiela Melec"]
[member="Thane Drexel"]
[member="Sannika Brynn"]

A vessel limped around the curve of Halm -- an old Huttese battlecruiser, missing large portions of hull plating. It felt like nothing more or less than malevolence, and it was bearing for the Chimaera. Ashin hissed a curse as the Star Destroyer reoriented to face the bogey. "Warm up the energy torpedoes and prepare to launch LACs. It's the Children of Darzu -- a scout, maybe. I want it slag before it gets anywhere near us. Lord Carach, I understand you're something of a technopath. I need to know if there's any more Darzite presence in this system. This is too close to Annaj-"

"Admiral, a flight of starfighters is exiting hyperspace a hundred kilometres from our position. They're broadcasting Fringe IFF, but two of the ship types are unfamiliar."

Ashin's head tilted slightly as she felt a tentative, subtle presence in the Force. What to make of it, she couldn't say. Sensing things was not her strong suit. "Ssi-Ruuvi, Dasid Anyan, Sekotan?"

"No known match for model or design cues; sixty percent possibility one of them is Koensayr. They're approaching."

"Hold off on the LAC launch. Koensayr could mean Black Sun." She grimaced faintly; the Styx incident had put a definite damper on that alliance. This could be Ice's retaliation, whether or not the man was dead. Or it could be a renewed declaration of friendship. "No hails from them?"

"Not that we're picking up. The Darzite ship is generating interference."

"Hail them. I've had enough surprises for one day." On her command throne's arm panel, a light went green. "This is Grand Admiral Ashin Varanin to inbound Fringe starfighters. We've identified our bogey as a vessel assimilated by the Children of Darzu. Identify yourselves and stand by."

 

[Arage Bao]

One moment all was well, other one we got swamped elbow-deep in… things. Ain’t possible to describe them any better than that, they were twisted creatures in persona and the Force. Fethed to a huge degree, metals sticking outta their skin like they were from some feth damned horror theme park.

Ain’t big fun times here though, I only got my shiv in my hands and let me tell ya immediately. I ain’t fighting these fethers with a little two-inch knifey, so I chucked it.

Shiv embedded itself in the face one of ‘em, didn’t even make him flinch, thing kept coming.

I sighed and shrugged.

‘Winner pays the drinks.’ told him and then rushed into the fray.

[member="Seren Ordavo"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Nui Akona"]

"Tell them that."

Beskar chains unwrapped themselves from Seren's arms and legs; the Dark Side-infused metal snapped through the tunnel air to embed itself in technophaged bone or wrap or grip or crush. Strike after strike, taking care not to spatter himself with nanite-infected gore on the retract. It was much like fighting Mnggal-Mnggal...an impression that grew as he began to notice an element of coordination far beyond what technobeasts normally manifested. There was, he sensed, a hive mind at work.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Seren Ordavo"]

Akuna didn’t sense a lot, he was far too busy punching things and punching them real hard. Breath in, durasteel skin - as long as he ain’t drinking that shet, he would be fine for now. Problem was, even though his punches were throwing them around the room, they simply stood back up again and moved at him.

This ain’t going too well, until he noticed the pickaxe laying around, picked it up and started hauling brains.

Now that worked better, though that was around the time one of the bigger fethers came in and punched him right back, Nui was sent flying.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Carach"]

"And no response." Ashin settled into her command throne, steepling her fingers. "Well, that settles it. I suppose if our curiously silent allies do anything hostile..."

She shrugged eloquently and raised her voice. "Captain Engel, time until the Darzite ship enters optimum turbolaser range?"

"Six minutes."

"Open fire regardless. Ion cannons."

At extreme range ion cannons weren't especially amazing, but the Chimaera mounted more than enough of them to make a cloud of expanding charged particles. The cloud washed over the Darzite battlecruiser, slipped through shutter-gaps, and began neutralizing the nanites on the ship's surface. That was the intent, anyway.

"Also, contact the Forty-Second Battle Group and instruct them to relocate to the Halm system. Where there's one Darzite, there are more."

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Nui Akona"]

Chain combat, here in the tunnels, just wasn't practical. Oh, he could make it work -- telekinesis punched the chain-ends through metal and nanite-mesh and assimilated skulls -- but with these numbers, he needed something shorter, but still long enough to keep them at range. He needed a sword or a lightsabre, and he had nothing. He'd even left that lever behind, a daft move. And now the nanite-infected gore was on the chains, enough so that he couldn't pull them back and re-wind them until he had a useful length.

Fire solved that. Nanites burst like popcorn. He wrapped the chains around his arms, leaving only a metre or so beyond where he gripped them, and got to work.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Chilling in the Garden of Unending Delights with [member="Khaleel Malvern"], Alec watched the battle unfold on long-range sensors.

"So, the upside of launching now is, the Chimaera is distracted enough that we could get past. The downside is, the ship they're fighting seems to be an old Huttese battlecruiser. And we're flying an old Huttese ship too. We'd look like a hostile. Another point for the upside: the Chimaera is going to win or call for reinforcements. Our odds won't be nearly so good then."

She grimaced. "Yeah, that makes up my mind. Aguikor, boot us up. Let's get gone."