Dark Shadows (Invite/GA)

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Shadow"] [member="Kith Verloren"] [member="Audren Sykes"] [member="Naamah Aesham"] [member="Aerion Ivelisse"] [member="Armis Vindex"] [member="Roth Tillian"] [member="Galen Adina"]

"Kark it all," she grumbled to herself, defending against the increasing barrage of blaster fire from the security droids and Sith trooper that had appeared. A second Jedi Master had arrived, his lightsaber carving through a launcher of some sort a Sith soldier was bringing to bear against them. They didn't have time for this though. Every passing minute meant more evidence destroyed, more chances for those here to escape and warn their masters of discovery. If there was one thing she knew about Sith who liked to lurk in the shadows, they hated being revealed and would usually silence anyone who found out their secrets... any way they could.

"We don't have time for this," she yelled, carving her lightsaber through a security droid that tried to advance towards her. With that said, her second lightsaber leapt from its spot on her belt and floated in the air next to her. She let go of her other lightsaber, levitating along with the other. Both sets began spinning and Taeli began her own advance, two spinning double-bladed lightsabers rotating around her through her command of the Force. Droids fell by the wayside, smoking and bearing molten drips of metal as her lightsabers carved through them. She was the eye of a storm of purple destruction, her face placid. From her free hands, more bolts of Electric Judgment sprung forth. It was an impressive display of the Force... but it would also serve as a focal point for the defense to focus on while the other Jedi Master here might be able to slip through and find out what was going on while she dealt with security.

 

[Aerion Ivelisse]

When [member="Taeli Raaf"] had originally came along to scold him, he didn't even appear to note her existence as he threw the hood of his thermal coat over his head and pulled his lightsabre off of his belt and palmed it.

Someone could've been talking to him, but he didn't care. Chances were it wasn't important.

A dark purple lightsabre carved through the weapons of the Sith troopers. He moved quickly, relieving a trooper here and there of an arm or a limb where he saw fit. There was a certain finesse when he executed his moves, but the only thoughts in his mind were to spare the lives of the soldiers. His father may have taught him that the Sith needed to be expunged from the Galaxy, these were merely their servants. So he spared them.

Killing strokes were reserved for their Dark leaders.

And while the Jedi Master that berated him drew much of the forces to her, he charged inside, letting the Force amplify his already great physical abilities. Occasionally even leaping here and there to create more distance, and then he was instead.

Immediately he took note of the crystals in carts lining a nearby wall. He jogged over, the sound of the droid's blasters firing made itself known on the edge of his hearing.

Huh.

He turned to a shaft that looked as if it would take him down.

He must've lost Lucius somewhere outside, and so he continued on into the facility.

We'll catch up later, friend.

 

[LT-137]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Subtly wasn’t his strong suit, nor was it his compatriots. Though they walked different paths, their approach was similar in almost every respect - well - except that Lucius would’ve rammed the armored prow of the transport through the distant iron door. Nothing like shedding your cloak of surprise with some artistic flourish, a fact that was certain to garner the attention of those that lay waiting within the mountain-side facility. However, his fellow Padawan had elected to follow the tried and true method of breaching an enemy escarpment, by utilizing the laser cannons of the shuttle to atomize the thick durasteel doors. The fires that blossomed from the subsequent explosion had drawn a small serpentine smile from the future Consular, who relished the sight and all the pleasant memories it had stirred. Unwilling to be consumed by the lingering echoes of the past, the Jedi Novitiate pushed the recollections aside and fanned his thermal-clad fingers across the length of his extinguished weapon.

As the yawning metallic maw had parted and shot into the snow, Lucius was the second soul to depart the steam spewing transport, and the first to find himself embattled by the enemy. His leather-bound feet sunk into the snow as soon as he left the grated embrace of the boarding ramp, and was pulled downwards by the titanic forces of gravity. His collapse had seemingly gone unnoticed by his fellow Padawan, whose vision had narrowed into a tunnel that only saw his objective and nothing more. That was all right. The Silver Scholar had grown accustomed to being left behind. First the Rogues, and now his fellow Initiate? It wasn’t the first time, nor did he doubt it would be the last. Rousing himself from the alabaster dune of snow, the Padawan brushed himself off and gave chase.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]That was when he was intercepted by a roving patrol of ivory-clad Security Droids, bathed in the swirling tides of loose snow, and billowing contrails of heat vapor from their cycling energy weapons. His senses screamed danger, blinding him to all else that transpired about his person. Lucius’ world became the moment, and as it passed from one to another, he had found himself withdrawing the symbol of his order from the belt lashed about his waist and thumbing the activation stud. With the characteristic snap-hiss of ignition, the Padawan was bathed in a pulsating emerald light of his plasmatic blade. He was ready to face the droids and their crude weapons of war. And as the war drum that was his heart had beat a melodic tune, the Silvered Scholar came under fire. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]The Patrolling droids had numbered Five when their minuscule battle had begun, but as time had become mercurial, there were none left standing when Lucius had cleaved the last droid in twain with an arcing pirouette. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Coated in sweat and feeling the nerves at the fringes of his face numbing as the frost began to take hold, the Padawan smothered the plasmatic blade of his lightsaber and clipped it back to his belt. He would need both hands to steady himself as he charged towards the distant door, as the Silvered Scholar could ill afford another obstacle to deny him the pleasure of accompanying his fellow Jedi.[/SIZE]

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| [member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="Galen Adina"] | [member="Armis Vindex"] | [member="Aerion Ivelisse"] | [member="Audren Sykes"] |​

| [member="Darth Shadow"] | [member="Kith Verloren"] | [member="Naamah Aesham"] |​

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Naamah Aesham"] [member="Kith Verloren"] [member="Audren Sykes"]
[member="Taeli Raaf"] [member="Lucius Varad"] [member="Aerion Ivelisse"]

Naamah

Heydrich was down. Dead or unconscious wasn’t important at this moment. There was indeed a limited window of opportunity.

An examination of the room found it littered with propaganda texts and other items of dubious truth. One particularly well-read placed the blame for the Gulag virus on alien Jedi trying to destroy humanity. This volume, The Protocols of the Masters of Tython had been a well-known piece of rubbish but Heydrich either believed it, or wanted to believe it.

However, there were more useful things. The first was an inventory of items carried by the ship. Amongst the water, food, weapons and machine parts was listed several crates listed as restricted.
Accessing them required confirmation, but thankfully a retina scan or thumbprint would suffice, something Naamah could handle.

The crates were carrying crystals. Crystals taken from Tython, Coruscant, in fact anywhere the One Sith had marched they had looted powerful Force crystals.

Further searching found a destination for the ship. Coordinates, and only a reference again to Omega.

However, before any further searching could occur there was a knock at the door.

“Commissar, apologies, but may I have a word?” a muffled voice on the other side called….

Ilum

Whilst the Jedi Masters battled the security the two Padawans could slip inside.

There they would find chaos and disorder. However, they would quickly see that there was a hanger nearby and that there was a heavily guarded shipment being pushed towards a waiting transport ship.

Whatever the Sith wanted to evacuate so much was probably not something the Jedi wanted them to have….

Guarding the shipment were six guards and a Sith acolyte, lightsabre ready and wary.

Kith

“Yes, Lady,” the Sith Lord answered slowly, carefully. “The weapon can fire now, but if used at maxiumum power it must rest for twenty-four hours between shots or it might crack the main crystal. With the Ilum specimen which is purer that is reduced to six hours. It can be fired at lesser power now…but not interstellar…much more regularly.”

Darth Sicarii looked to the aide. “You may go. Bring us word immediately when the shipments arrive.”

The final door slid open…to reveal…Omega.

 

[Naamah Aesham]

[member="Darth Shadow"]


Transportation routes, inventory manifests, crystals. Access to the inventory list was restricted to authorised personnel, but conveniently Heydrich was still lying around. He was in no possession to prevent his thumb from being misused for a thumbprint. He didn't need it anyway.


Then Naamah poured over the data. There was no time for her to make notes, but she'd always had an excellent memory, which was why she could never forget her sins. They were always with her. What stuck out amongst the mundane shipments of water, durasteel and so on were the crystals. Especially a specific type of them: Kyber crystals. Naamah frowned, then her blood ran cold. These were the crystals that had powered superweapons such as the Death Star. The realisation came gradually, in a step-by-step manner.


The project was codenamed Omega. Mythologically, the name conjured up an image of the end times, just as Alpha represented the beginning. The Sith spoke of it in hushed weapons, treating it as their ultimate trump card, something that could allow them to take revenge on a galaxy that had rejected them. What was more Sithy than making the stars burn?


She glanced towards the coordinates, then there was a knock on the door. The Clawdite stiffened, then quickly hid Heydrich's body inside a closet. "Yes, come in," the faux Heydrich demanded imperiously in a commanding voice, then sat down behind the desk. There was a heavy, ponderous volume called the The Myth on the desk, written by the known racialist 'philosopher' Rosenberg.

 

[Aerion Ivelisse]

It was true that Aerion spotted the hangar.

Should [member="Lucius Varad"] have followed him into the complex, he would've pointed him in the direction of the hangar and crouch walked over to the nearest crate as he popped a thumb over at them.

Aerion? Being subtle?

Not for long.

He raised his hand. Five fingers up. Down came one.

Four.

Down came another.

Three.

He paused for a moment, blue eyes shining as his serious facade broke into a grin.

The friendly trio of fingers all collapsed into a fist and he vaulted over the crate, the purple colour of his lightsabre coming to life as he crossed the distance a lot faster than any regular human should've. He didn't even employ the Force when he did it. Immediately, he engaged the Sith acolyte. That's what his Father would've wanted. It was also Ivelisse beating out Lucius so he'd have to deal with the Sith troopers. More times than not, those that fought alongside Jedi and Sith learned to not fire at them whilst they engaged each other in combat. Randomly deflected bolts, dangerous, that's why he pressed the acolyte hard, but kept him between four of the Sith troopers, and had the other two trying to get a good shot on him.

Crimson and purple bounced off each other. Occasionally a strike would be earned by the both of them, but nothing mortal.

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Naamah Aesham"]
An officer entered. He was a Lieutenant of some form, and as he stood to attention he looked extremely wary and uncomfortable.

“Sir, I’m sorry to disturb you. Your guards suggested that you were busy, but I had to bring this to you right away. I believe there is a traitor on board this ship! I think there is an infiltrator who had snuck past our security scans with the intention of stealing information about the Omega!”

After this rather unpleasant beginning however, he moved on to less dangerous territory.

“I believe Captain Gorduz is supplying information to the Alliance! I have some information here which I feel shows he has been conspiring against us!”

He laid down a data pad on the table.

 

[Naamah Aesham]

[member="Darth Shadow"], [member="Valiens Nantaris"]


Having been a former member of the Atrisian Emperor's personal hit squad of Force-using killers, Naamah was well familiar with the Byzantine machinations that came as natural to minions of totalitarian dictatorships as breathing. So she fell into the role of the paranoid, power-hungry servant of Sith power. The faux Heydrich looked suitably grave and serious, with a glint of sadism in his predatory eyes. Naamah picked up the datapad and studied it.


"These are serious accusations, Lieutenant. But I have suspected the same. Spies must be weeded out, lest they undo Omega and bring about our downfall. We must always be vigilant. I want you to bring in Captain Gorduz for questioning. He has many connections, so we must act swiftly before the contagion spreads. If I recall correctly, Doctor von Braun is a close friend of his. He may be using his position to perform sabotage."

 

[Audren Sykes]

"We don't have time for this!"

Audren couldn't tell if the comment was for him or for someone else, or maybe just an expression of frustration in general. Whichever one it was, the other Master was right. Maybe she'd missed the dark-skinned Padawan heading deeper inside, maybe not. Things needed to be stopped up here before either of them could go support the other though. He wasn't about to leave another Jedi at the mercy - at the focus of this growing group of opponents. It just took one lucky bolt to get through the lightsaber and electricity.

Twin bolts dropped a charging acolyte - the first particle beam was deflected and pushed the red lightsaber out of place and the second took the Rodian in the torso. Meanwhile, a lightsaber slash took out the legs of one of the security droids. A step, then the backslash dropped both the falling droid and the one next to it. Another bolt, this one a thin silver beam, took the next droid and paused it. The modified ion beam of the paddle beamer was built for organics, but was still slightly effective against electronics. Enough to momentarily jar its workings, giving him enough time to let his blade impale the processing unit.

Three droids and a Sith acolyte down in a matter of seconds. Not fast enough, not by a long shot, if he'd been by himself. But he was accompanying a woman who could throw lightning while controlling two sabers. They'd started out facing maybe a dozen droids and a few others; he'd personally dropped at least a quarter of them and had no doubt she'd done better. He could leave her to hold - eliminate - the rest without much regret.

The Sephi broke through the line and headed to the same tunnel the dark-skinned Padawan had. On the way, his gun hand made a slight squeezing motion, and tendrils of Force energy crimped the barrel of a repeating blaster shut. It exploded just as he ducked into the tunnel fully. Down that shaft was a hangar, but it was the flashing lightsaber blades that caught his attention. The Padawan was fighting a Sith there, and half a dozen soldiers were jockeying to get clear angles on the Jedi. Past the fight, a shipment was being pushed towards a waiting transport.

Fortunately, Audren was good at being a wrench thrown into situations.

The first and only particle bolt took one of the soldiers in the shoulder rather than the head, testament to the distance and Audren's lack of expertise. The soldier spun to the floor with a clatter, attracting the attention of the other five. In the slight pause of re-adjusting aim, the Master holstered his sidearm; what would come next would not be easy for him given his lack of practice. Blaster bolts leapt at him from five different guns, and his lightsaber blurred into motion. Each bolt was caught and returned. Rather than going back to the shooters however, each bolt was directed at the shipment as best as the Jedi could. Not at the boxes either, but at the thing carrying them. He couldn't quite tell whether it was wheeled or repulsor-driven from this distance, but it didn't matter. Bolt after burning bolt was send flying towards the thing. Whatever it was they were pulling from Ilum and sending elsewhere, he wanted to stop it and figure out what it was.

[member="Darth Shadow"] | [member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="Galen Adina"] | [member="Armis Vindex"] | [member="Aerion Ivelisse"] | [member="Lucius Varad"]