Clockwork Omega

[Jonathon Patches]

@[member="Allaina Mare"] , @[member="Cira"]

Great, he mused to himself at his armed escort. It's not that having a dozen or so blaster trained on Patches made him uneasy - by his usual standards, a dozen or so blasters fixated on him was a bit light - he just didn't like drawing too much attention to himself, and that made it difficult with such an armed escort.

"It's not like I'm full of wires and bright lights; I am not the one you guys should be concerning yourselves with," he said, taking a few steps as the blasters slowly followed him, he approached the woman whose voice he recognized from the transmission. As he neared her, one of the armed escorts grabbed both of his hands, and slapped a pair of binders on his wrists. He glared at the guard, whom took a few steps back, as Patches quipped "Well that hardly seemed necessary."

Shaking his head, he led them through the hanger to a set of doors; where he had last seen Cira wander off to, whom he could only assume was the "Prex." As the doors hissed open, with Allaina and his escort in tow, he spoke out the side of his mouth, "So, you're the one that is going to save us all, right?" while taking a few strides forward, in hope that he was leading them to the right place.

It is awfully big here, he mused, as they passed door after door through a long hallway. He slowed down slightly at a few of the doors, as if trying to sense a presence; not that he possessed any such skills, nor any connection with the force. Call it instinct if you will, but his gut was usually right. Well... sometimes...

He stopped at what he could only assume to be a bridge or command center; at least if he was designing the ship, it seemed the most logical place to put it; only thing was, he really didn't know what was on the other side of that door. However, with a confidence of a man that was certain he knew what he was doing -which couldn't be farther from the truth - he stopped at the door, and declared, "You'll find your Prex through here," he said with a smug grin, as he came to a stop.

 

[Ayden Cater]

@[member="Red Queen"] @Jak


This was evil. No, beyond evil. This was cruelty in its purest form. Ayden slowly turned from the warped blast door, his entire body tense as a coiled viper. Nothing he had ever done could have prepared him for this kind of attack. A tremor rolled up one arm as his Force signature began to grow cold and dark. He turned back and stared emptily at the blast door, even as the tremor spread across his back and soon caused his entire body to shudder and shake.

"You... are not... MY DAUGHTER!" Ayden screamed in agony as he wrenched the door free with a shrill shriek of metal separating from duracrete and turned, hurling it straight at the figures of both his wife and daughter. He didn't even wait to see it slam into the wall before he turned and ran into the data core room. It had certainly seen better days, though that's not what held his focus. What held his focus was a figure standing on a platform on the far side of the room.

The blast door creaked and groaned before it shot forward and slammed into the opening behind Ayden, leaving no room for anyone to get in or out. "You Sithspawned queen... Give me one good reason I shouldn't tear you apart right now."

 

[Cira]

@[member="Allaina Mare"] @[member="Jonathon Patches"]

The Prex stood at the bridge, her steely gaze set upon the bustle of activity of Omega Pyre officers. Over head, past the transparasteel of the viewport, the dark rising plumes of Omega Pyre tower bore a grisly reminder of what had transpired in the past hour. Of the fall.

"Come on Ayden," she said cursing hotly under her breath.

"Prex! Mare is here!," turning to her right, Cira zoomed in on the redheaded woman. Sure strides saw her at her side in seconds. "Good to see you alive and kicking Allaina," she said with a faint upward curve of her lips. "Got something for me?"

A brief glance caught the infochant hanging in the background, cuffed. Good. They still had to process him. "Unless you find yourself needing to share more information Mr. Patches?"

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

@[member="Cira"] @[member="Jonathon Patches"] @[member="Allaina Mare"]

The armored pilot appeared again, a steaming cup of black coffee in his gauntlet. That is to say, actual coffee, not the caf served aboard the ship. Where he'd gotten it was up for debate, as so far as anyone knew, there'd been none aboard ship.

Setting the cup on the table next to the space Cira had just vacated, Sarge shifted to parade rest and waited.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

Jak was scared. Really scared. He had watched as Ayden slowly turned around, shaking the whole while, and had been constantly backing away from Ayden as soon as he realized what happened to him. Now, as the durasteel slab rose from the ground and was positioned perpendicular to him, he began to run to the door in hopes of making it before he was bodyslammed by the wall.

Nope.

Instead, he was hit by the wall, and was thrust through the door by it. As he lay groaning on the floor in the small room he was in, he heard a loud *PANG* and felt an impact through the floor, as he saw a large dent materialize in the wall. He wasn't getting out that way any time soon.
"Okay, now what? I can't go forward, I can't go backward, left or right equals Clockwork droids, and down is ground. So, it looks like up is the only way now."
Cradling his left arm, he attached a grappling cable to the top of his gun. He then shot the ceiling enough times to melt a sizeable hole. Noise can't be helped, I guess, he thought, firing the cable through the hole and onto the next level. Winding the cord, he came to the next level up, where he could see a holoview of Ayden stomping towards a hologram.
Taking a careful sweep of the perimeter of the room circling the core, he hunkered down to wait. No one knew he was here, as there were no security cameras here to begin with.

 

[Red Queen]

@[member="Ayden Cater"] @[member="Jak Sandrow"]​

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Manic laughter came bubbling forth at Ayden's display of rage.​

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[[ Ah ah ah!! Don't you like my little game? ]]​

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Snickers came forth after, the manipulation of the room's acoustics making it seem as if it was coming from all angles.​

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[[ Why so angry? ]]​

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There came another image of his wife next to him; coy, knowing, mischevious.​

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[[ Don't you like it?]]​

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She pressed herself against him, a finger leaving a lingering warmth against his lips.​

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[[ Come on... Imagine the possibilities! ]]​

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Another giggle as she flashed away and turned into his daughter anew.​

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[[ I can be anyone. Anything. Anytime. ]]​

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Another laugh. Then within the core. A ghastly image came to view.​

​

​

​

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[[ Why? Because I hold a record of every memory you hold dear. ]]​

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Her voice came out a bit distorted, maniacal.​

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[[ I have almost a milienia of memories. A fount of knowledge you could only dream of having. ]]​

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The image wavered, flowing as if over water.​

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[[ Destroy me and destroy that which you hold dear. ]]​

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A knowing smile.​

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[[ I can bring them back exactly how you knew them to be. ]]​

​

Both images of his wife and daughter came to stand next to him.​

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[[ I can bring them back to life. ]]​

​

Crimson eyes flared.​

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[[ They'll never die. Never feel pain. ]]​

​

The great image wavered again.​

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[[ You will never be alone again. ]]​

 

[Ayden Cater]

@[member="Red Queen"]


If the temperature of the room weren't so heavily controlled, if a droid could feel like an organic, the temperature of the room would have suddenly turned heavy and cold. Ayden's gaze was cast upwards towards the ceiling. His signature in the Force seemed to chill like the atmosphere within the room as he slowly lowered his gaze to the flickering disembodied head that taunted and tortured him so. And unlike before, it was not dark emerald eyes that carried hatred and pain that stared upon her.

But sick, pale irises of yellow.

His mouth twisted in a snarl as he screamed in rage and anguish. No words could describe his heartache, no emotions could grasp the depths of his pain and sorrow. All he could do was scream as bolts of brilliant blue lightning erupted from his fingertips and lashed out. The form of his wife was the first to be struck, exploding her figure in a blast of light. But he didn't stop there. Ayden turned his angry on the ghostly imitation of his daughter and destroyed her as well. Sparks flew from panels around the room as Ayden turned his unending sorrow on the electronics in the room. What consoles would have projected holographic forms of data and light were obliterated in a torrent of Force Lightning.

And as his hands began to smoke, Ayden turned and paused only long enough for his gaze to penetrate those soulless eyes that saw too much. His hands came up slowly, rising in rhythm to the hatred that began to overtake sorrow on his face before he unleashed an even stronger barrage of Force Lightning from one hand. He did not waiver or hesitate. Ayden did not stop until the fingertips of his left hand began to blacken and smoke. Until the core that the Red Queen had claimed for her own was utterly wasted. Only then did the Corellian fall to his knees and sob.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

Jak watched like a child at the display of raw power before him. He watched as the holograms were blown to binary bits, and the computers charred to coal. He saw Ayden kneel, and start to shake a bit. Shrugging, as he had no idea what was going on, he headed back to the hole in the floor. Gingerly lowering himself through it, he got in front of the durasteel wall blocking the entrance. After giving Ayden a moment of peace, he knocked loudly on the wall with his gun.
"Ayden? Are you okay? Can you get me out of here, please?"

 

[Red Queen]

@[member="Ayden Cater"]​

​

All the while, through the vast electrocution of the Force Lightning, the Red Queen's twisted cackle could be heard.​

He'd cut her off from the core. But he didn't kill her off.​

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[[ Not... so... easy...]]​

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She shrieked like a banshee.​

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[[ YOU. WILL. NEVER. BE. RID. OF. ME! ]]​

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The promise would chill to the bone.​

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[[ I WON THIS GAME!]]​

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The power went out. Pitch black.​

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[[ You're.... already.... mine. ]]​

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This time, the whisper came from behind Ayden, falling from the Human Replica Droid's lips beside the sobbing man.​

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[[ Ayden ]]​

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Lips pressed to his forehead, transferring exquiste torturous warmth.​

The HRD form of the Red Queen still held the holographic visual of his wife.​

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[[ Forever ]]​

​

It didn't matter that he'd destroyed the core.​

For throughout the ground, the walls, the holoarrays, and yes, even the HRD had nanites writhing over it.​

By now they had found the open wounds of the sobbing man, the time it taken to distract him used preciously.​

They now went boring into Ayden's skin, infecting him with OMNI's curse.​

 

[Qae Shena]

And while Ayden Cater was being subjected to the greatest mindscrew there ever existed (poor dude)...

It's The Allaina Show, featuring @[member="Cira"]!

"I have this, from Ayden. I don't know what it is but he said it'd deal with a virus, or something. I don't know. All I know is that I had to deliver it to you and you could take the tower back."

She was worried, though. "Hurry. The stuff in there is nasty. There's rogue battle droids and... well, I don't know what else, to be honest. He could be in serious danger."