DEVASTATION: Base Delta Zero (Act Two)

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Tempest"]

Enyo had been close, so close. The mighty maul swept towards her opponent at rapid velocities and with murderous intent, but in the blink of an eye Tempest leapt through the air. Her leap and subsequent landing were somewhat ungraceful, but land she did. Enyo reorientated herself, taking note that the Dahomian was out of measure.

For now.

She also noted that the Dahomian only held on to her lightsabre with some difficulty. Lightsabres, being near weightless, were essentially a one-handed weapon. So the bad arm would not keep her from using it...but one could not really block hammer strikes with a sabre. However, the lightsabre was faster and more flexible.

But the moment the Firemane officer had landed, forking arcs of electricity soared towards Enyo. The Cyborg braced herself, facing the storm of lightning. It was the bane of most machines. Her armour contained numerous countermeasures, but she was still vulnerable. Bolts of lightning struck her.

Some of the lightning was absorbed by her armour or earthed by the in-built Faraday Cage. But electricity still crawled over her body, causing her to shake. The Cyborg staggered, and then heat filled her brainbox. As electronics were shorted out, Enyo felt something close to fear. For all of her mechanical strength, her brain was still human...and kept alive through sensitive electronics. Her body trembled and would not respond to her command. One eye flickered wildly, diminishing her vision. By chance or design, a bolt struck Enyo's revolver. Combined with the earlier ionic attack, this rendered the sidearm inert.

Rage filled her. Something she rarely felt or made use of. But now she drank from the fountain of her fury, letting it fill her black heart. She willed herself to absorb the lightning and redirect its energy. She had broken her chains, cast down her creators. And she would also break Siobhan's pet. She willed her body into motion.

Reaching out, she sought to wrap her telekinetic willpower around Tempest's right leg in an iron grip. To be precise, she focused her efforts on the Dahomian warrior's right knee, aiming to break bones inside in the knee joint and cause it to fracture. With one motion, she utilised a technique she was most familiar with. Force Crush. It was not a full-on Crush...but potent. Now the Firemane soldier would not be able to avoid facing her. If she tried to break the telekinetic hold, that would take time.

Enyo was not a telekineticist on the level of Siobhan Kerrigan, but close. She had poured her focus into detail, rather than flamboyant feats such as pulling down an SD. At the same time, Enyo advanced forward, hammer in hand. Owing to the damage to her leg, her gait was slower and stiffer. But she advanced nonetheless.

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

​

​

Dagger shaped vessels reverted into realspace with the battle already at hand.

HIMS Elidibus took point whilst twin artillery cruisers the HIMS Dowager and Duchess moved on either side of the dreadnought. Long-range weapons at the ready, as klaxons blared throughout the fleet. It was a rarity to see the Seventh Fleet in full battle form often they were tasked with multiple missions requiring them to splinter away from one another. The three Hellstrom-class carriers moved forward with their torpedo frigate escorts and light support carriers. As the rest of the fleet reverted into realspace they would be given their assignments, guns pointed toward Coalition forces.

Lord Admiral Raaf ordered Morgause to begin the recording of the battle, "Inform Captain Kabar of our presence, give them any aid should they request it." She ordered while on the move to the command center. "We have enemies aboard the Ultima already, I'll leave its defense to General [member="Kor Vexen"] and his team." Raaf presumed Vexen to be present but this could have been her own folly that he would be here to guard against intruders. Her task today was to now keep any more intruders away from the Ultima, and, "engage interdictors all ships that are capable."

"Acknowledged," Morgause replied as it relayed the Lord Admiral's orders

Around the Elidibus in the black, Seventh Fleet shifted into arrow-shaped formations with lines resembling the letter-v. The assault group comprised the bulk of the fleet as they moved forward into the fray. "Acquire targeting solutions on registered ship besh."

The Uukaablian ship would be the acquired target as the Elidibus and her artillery cruisers ran solutions. Fighters were being readied up in their hangars, as their assignments were given. "Solutions acquired." Morgause acknowledged once the crews had confirmed their input.

"Deploy fighters, and fire at will."

Across the void verdant lumens raced toward their targets, with Seventh Fleet sitting opposite of their targets at long range.

[member="Atlas Drake"] | [member="Captain Alkar Kabar"] | [member="Darth Carnifex"] | [member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Vaulkhar]

Location: Sisio - Sisio Starport
Allies: The Sith Empire
Enemies: [member="Romi Jade"]
Objective: None.

As Vaulkhar's blade found itself deflected out and guided away, he considered the varying options before him. His lightsaber deactivated as she moved to guide his weapon away. Hoping to catch her within her own trap, Vaulkhar extended a hand and focused on his opponent. A wave of kinetic energy pressed towards her as he backpedaled away to once more create space. He narrowed his eyes and once more changed his stance. The lightsaber was now wholly parallel to the ground and held close to his body. With his attempts at offense turned away numerous times already, he adopted a more traditional form and gauged the distance between them.

Already he summoned the force to his will, curling it around him like a blanket. He lowered his center of gravity as he fell into a crouch, allowing for a more stalwart defense from the Jedi's coming blows.

"You remind me of someone."

 

[Lark]

Location: The Ultimate Weapon
Allies: TSE
Enemies: ORC, [member="Vigil Rostu"]
Objective: Fite time

Fortunately Lark would not have to make the perilous trip down to the surface of the rotten heap of trash below. It truly was a planet that deserved nothing but absolute annihilation, even more than the hundreds of other meaningless gatherings of life across the galaxy. Starships engaged in space combat outside the superweapon, and as Lark watched the glorious light show he heard a thunderous crash and scraping metal. Surely we haven't sustained significant damage already, Lark thought. Running to investigate, Lark was reminded of his exhaustion, of the toll that came with the mass summoning he had performed on Kadavo. He knew for certain he wouldn't be able to use his haunted tome in the coming fight, he wouldn't want to unleash hordes of hellish Sithspawn within the weapon regardless. But even beyond that, Lark wasn't sure how much strength he'd be able to muster.

As much as is necessary, Lark thought. Whoever was unfortunate to crash their spacecraft within the Ultimate Weapon would soon discover that this marvelous monument to the Sith would be their grave. He turned a corner and happened upon a burning ship and plumes of smoke, a trail of shredded metal in its wake.

Lark wasn't sure if anyone within the doomed vessel had even survived the crash. Drawing his enchanted Sith sword, he prepared to ambush anyone who might have survived the impact and subsequent fire.

When I'm done with them, they'll pray for the fire instead.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"No need."

The redirected energy was quickly dispersed by its creator, strands of volatile electricity sparking through empty air before terminating into nothingness. Carnifex stepped forward, one hand reaching down for the lightsaber affixed at his waist. With smooth simple motion he unhooked it from its cradle and brought it up before him, its scarlet blade snap-hissing to life before them.

"Ensure that any other boarders do not tamper with Ultima's controls, there can be no one to stop us this time. Put all levels on high alert."

Carnifex shot forward, the Force wrapping around him and granting his movements unnatural haste as he swung his weapon down in a vertical chopping arc towards Tiland's body, the weapon continuing forward even if the Jedi Monk managed to dodge and imbedding itself into the durasteel floor. With a jerk of his arm, the Emperor pulled his weapon free with a cascade of molten metal from where the lightsaber blade had carved a terrible rent in the floor.

"I will destroy this malcontent."

[member="Credius Nargath"] | [member="Tiland Kortun"] | [member="Atlas Drake"]​

 

[Credius Nargath]

"Very well," Halcyon slammed his fist against his chest and was about to calmly slither away, yet before he would actually do so, he looked at the emperor and the jedi master the monster was facing. "Though may I perhaps respectfully remember to your highness that this...jedi might hold information that would perhaps come in handy to choose your next target with this glorious weapon. If you might be able to avoid killing him, I wouldn't mind having him in my care..."

Nodding his head, the Sith Lord then turned around and moved towards the exit of the large chambers, passing the guards with a respectfull nod, all the while gritting his teeth in anger. He was seething with hatred towards that jedi for disturbing an opportunity like this. If he wished to know his own standing within the empire, he had to confront the emperor, but with this timing, that idea had been thrown overboard. "Jedis really are pests that need to be eradicated, their mindless dogma is always such a nuissance to deal with."

Reaching for the datapad again, the Sith Lord instantly connected to the Ultima's communication network, but also to all the capital ships of the empire, using the Imperial encryption to avoid other ships from hearing the message. "His most magnificent Majesty desires for all enemies to be eradicated," On each level of the Ultima, Halcyon's appearance would be shown holographically, but also on each ship's bridge the empire commanded. "No jedi, smuggler, bountyhunter, soldier or spec of filth not adhering to his Imperial highnes' design and desires is to be left standing. We have but one mission: kill them all."

With that being said, using the datapad, Halcyon closed off the connection to the ships outside of the Ultima, focusing mainly on those aboard the weapon of mass destruction. "Put all levels on high alert, no one comes in or goes out without imperial protocol being followed. Any stragglers will find only death and all those who fail to prevent stragglers from coming in...well, you'll have to answer to his Highness."

[member="Darth Carnifex"] [member="Vaulkhar"] [member="Lark"] [member="Fiolette Raaf"]

 

[Captain Alkar Kabar]

The enemy was pushing forward, as expected, they were the ones with the limited time to respond. Two ships, about frigate or corvette sized, flanked their right, while the star destroyer descended the z-axis. Alkar smiled. Good.

"Order the Mokkarran and Selpherran to prepare for a micro-jump on my command. Shield fighters will remain in position to defend the Ultima." He ordered to the communications crew. "Order the Isurus and four sword squadrons to attack the forces attempting to flank us." As ordered, the Isurus and four squadrons turned to intercept the frigate and corvette ships.

"Are you sure sending the Isurus in with some fighters against those ships are wise?" His first officer asked.

"They have a large amount of fighters which the Isurus' defenses will be able to counter. With four squadrons they should be competitive enough to do some damage, especially with fighter support. Besides, they just need to get there."

Then he turned to the Malephus' helm crew, "Rotate the ship so that our turbo-lasers can continue to track the enemy star destroyer and keep advancing toward them at top speed. I want to keep harassing it." As commanded the ship rotated, presenting most of it's armaments toward the 'descending' (with respect to the Malephus) enemy star-destroyer. It took another hit or two, and exchanged likewise in terms of turbo-lasers, although now that the two were getting closer the rest of each ship's armaments were about to turn toward each other.

Spoiler

• Malephus - Deflectors: 90% | Hull: 100% | Orders: Advancing toward Firestorm and entering medium range. Rotated to keep maximum firepower on enemy vessel.4 Starfighter Squadrons

[*]Isurus - Deflectors: 100% | Hull: 100% | Orders: Advancing toward Defiance and Expedition and entering medium range.

• 4 Starfighter Squadrons

[*]Mokkarran - Deflectors: 100% | Hull: 100% | Orders: Protecting Ultima
[*]Selpherran - Deflectors: 100% | Hull: 100% | Orders: Protecting Ultima
[*]4 Starfighter Squadrons: 100% | Orders: Protecting Ultima

[member="Kyrana Gould"]​

 

[Placeholder 0128]

Objective: Get to the Ultimate Weapon for eventual boarding
Allies: [member="Loske Matson"] / ORC / @Kiyron / [member="Vigil Rostu"]
Enemies: TSE


Flying was for droids.

The StealthX felt clumsy in his unpracticed hands. He'd managed a few trials runs before embarking on the mission, but space had never been his area of expertise. It was only by the grace of the force, the astromech he had aboard, and dumb luck that he'd managed to keep the craft from sailing too far from Loske's own.

When the girl had come to him explaining what was threatening the system, duty had bidden Cedric move to assist. Lines of allegiance meant little in the face of true terror; he might not have agreed with the ORC's politics, but its people had just as much a right to live as any other being.

The Jedi had remained mostly silent during the flight. His concentration centered entirely on flying in a straight line, and not letting the battle erupting nearby steal his focus. When Loske spoke, the Jedi Master moved to follow.

"Whatever gets me out of this ship faster," he grumbled over the mental link he'd forged between himself and the girl. "I'm about as keen on flying as I am on suicide missions. I'm truly blessed and thankful that you've given me the opportunity to enjoy both at the same time." Definitely not any sarcasm there.

Cedric angled his craft to sail in alongside Loske's. He would land when she did - whatever got him on the ground quicker.

 

[Tiland Kortun]

[member="Darth Carnifex"] [member="Credius Nargath"]
[member="Atlas Drake"]
============

Tiland let the Force barrier dissipate as the Sith emperor drew his lightsaber, igniting a massive saber that was longer than his own quarterstaff, which was a unique enough experience. He held himself still, sinking deeper into the Force as the towering behemoth of darkness rushed towards him, blade held high, until it started to come down. The monk simply pivoted on one foot so that the blade passed beside him, burying itself in the floor.

"I would suggest turning the weapon against itself!" He called to the departing Sith. "That seems like the most reasonable option." He took a step in closer towards the emperor and took the quarterstaff in both hands, letting his feet slide apart to lower his center of gravity while the Force flowed from his hands into the staff and the gourds, encasing them in a shimmering field of light.

He whipped the end of the staff, trying to loop the straps around the lightsaber to begin pinning it down, with one hand, and braced it against the inside of his knee, while trying to pivot in closer to be within the length of the hilt to evade the blade itself, and make it less useful.

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Objective: Get into the control centre for the weapon ​

Allies: [member="Cedric Grayson"] / ORC on the ship / [member="Kiyron"] / [member="Vigil Rostu"]​

Bad guys: TSE​

Soundtrack​

​

Loske nosed the fighter upward, grateful that a plumage of fire elsewhere on The Ultima weapon would probably draw more attention than any sort of sensor arrays that the StealthX’s could accidentally trigger. To mitigate that, she updated the frequencies she was projecting to match what the weapon would expect to triage, and allowed a temporary gap in the shields. Angled now over the ramp, which was serendipitously unguarded for the meantime, Loske depressed the seal to the cockpit and spilled out, holding her breath for posterity's sake. The sound of her hitting the metal platform was barely loud enough to rise above the basic operational cacophony of the weapon just staying afloat.​

​

She scurried toward the body of the weapon, pressing herself against the outside and waited long enough for the [member="Kiyron"], his crew and [member="Cedric Grayson"] to meet at the rendezvous. In the meantime, Frank distanced her matte black fighter from the dropoff point and circled away - awaiting her signal for an extraction.​

​

There were several coalition groups with plans that included boarding this weapon and shutting it down - each team was the failsafe for the next. Which also meant this Force-fuelled weapon was being peppered with a mix of Force signatures. Among them was the pilot’s own - an apparent tempest with an uncanny similarity to the Grayson-Matteo line. Any that had been particularly sensitive to either of those trademarked metaphysical auras would likely detect the faintest infringement from the girl.​

​

 

[Placeholder 0128]

Objective: Get into the control center
Allies: [member="Loske Matson"], [member="Kiyron"], [member="Vigil Rostu"], ORC
Enemies: TSE (TBD)



An inherent feeling of dread fell over Cedric, as if he'd just been splashed with a bucket of cold water. It caused him to momentarily freeze as the X-wing's cockpit quietly hissed open. The Bogan pervaded every corner of this weapon; the moment he set foot upon its surface, he felt the intentions of the vessel as if it were a living being. The empyrean here was fragmented, broken. Where the force would usually bring Cedric peace, all it delivered to him now was an overwhelming feeling of something being inherently wrong and unnatural.

The greatest word Cedric could find to describe the feeling was one he did not wholly believe in himself: evil. The Jedi Master was hesitant to apply such a simple label to anything, let alone a weapon, but he couldn't shake the thought from his mind.

This was, well and truly, an evil place.

"This may have been a mistake," Cedric mused to himself as he made his way along the durasteel, the thud of his boots muddled by the rumbling of the vessel's very existence. He ran his plate-bound fingers over the terentatek skin sheathe at his belt. Such precautions were required when trying to do anything stealthy: a Sith could sense the Blade of Ruusan from miles away if measures were not taken to prevent it.

Drawing his cowl over his helm, the Jedi stalked his way over to Loske. He spared a glance over his shoulder as the two StealthXs lifted off into the void. His had been programmed to follow after Loske's, though he doubted either vessel would survive the battle to come.

"I will deal with any Sith we come across. If you see one, keep your distance. You did well against Agraush, but he was little more than an acolyte. These are a different, far more dangerous breed." He ordered, his voice sounding artificially low as his helmet's vocalizer modulated his speech.

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Objective: Whatever it takes to make this supermama weapon not fire ​

Allies on Ultima in order of proximity: [member="Cedric Grayson"] / [member="Kiyron"] + NPCs/ [member="Atlas Drake"] + NPCs / [member="Vigil Rostu"]/ [member="Tiland Kortun"]​

Bad guys on Ultima in order of assumed proximity: [member="Credius Nargath"] / [member="Lark"] / [member="Darth Carnifex"]​

Soundtrack​

Loske smiled and shook her head at the compliment sandwich [member="Cedric Grayson"] delivered. It's like she was tender with a little bit of power, and mostly ill equipped.

"Thank you."

While she was certainly not as outfitted as the Jedi Master, she was not weaponless. Strapped her either hip was an A280 Covert Field blaster, and the other side an Adjucator. And as always, her razor knucklers should anyone risk contention within close quarters. Oh, and one hefty Jedi Master ironclad in impenetrable metal. Mortality was a risk she was willing to take today, and every day. It was strange though, being this close to the action and not silo'd off with her and Frank's own thoughts twisting through the sky and knocking people into the starry abyss. If she killed people here, she would see blood for the first time. Something she'd had to come to terms with when becoming a rogue wraith for this adventure.
That was all without mentioning the pack she shimmied from her shoulder, which she was setting to work stringing along the ramp. Minor EMP charges, but something that she could trigger if a distraction was necessary. If this was a sensitive area, any sort of damage that could be caused was better than none.

"If we can't disable this weapon from the control centre," Loske murmured to her companion, a wire between her teeth as she pressed down and lodged some final stickiness to the charge. The wire slipped out from her mouth and down to the ground, as she worked to twist it. "Is there a way The Force can turn on itself? Destroy this thing another way?"

Of course, it was in that moment the third cup of caf hit. She muttered a cuss under her breath and stood, discarding the pack and glancing at her chrono. The new recruits for the Huntsmen would be arriving soon. Super stealthy folk she could probably learn much from.

Muted alarms were sounding beyond the sealed door, and Loske pressed a hand against the entry panel. With a hiss, the doors spanned open. In an instant, the Adjucator was out of its holster and levelled in front of her eye line. For now, the corridor was remarkably empty - although there was detectable activity within the belly of the beast.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Enyo Typhos"]
Tempest noted with approval that lightning was striking some telling blows against her opponent. The cyborg seemed very difficult to stop by any means, and this did not do so, but it was slowing her.

And then something grabbed her knee. Going through the armour to the flesh and bone beneath was just unfair, it was cheating, she felt! Still, this was the situation she was in.
Tempest let out a little cry and the vice grip tightened and tightened inexorably. Her telekinesis was nowhere near as strong as Siobhan or her clone, and she could feel with agonising pain that her bones were close to cracking like brittle glass.

Desperately, she released her feeble attempts to counter the grip. The only way to stop her legs being broken was to break the cyborg’s concentration. Thus she dropped the lightsabre and extended both hands with difficulty in the case of the right arm. Arcs of lightning flowed from both hands, more to make Enyo stop than actually hoping to kill her outright.

If the pressure relented she would pick up her lightsabre and stumble back again. Walking, or even standing on her right leg was out of the question at the moment. Having to hop away from the relentless cyborg did not sound like a dignified mode of escape if she had to do so.

 

[Credius Nargath]

Location: Aboard the Ultima
Allies: TSE
Enemies: ORC & allies | [member="Loske Matson"] [member="Cedric Grayson"]

As soon as the sith lord had decided to follow up on the lock down order given to him in person by Darth Carnifex, Halcyon started to make his way to the Ultima's central control room. It wasn't all that hard to find though, as it was literally the only other place within the weapon that was almost as equally drenched with the dark side power of the necrotic reactors as the actual throne room up above. Those who weren't force sensitive were only allowed within the control room using specialized suits which prevented them from being overwhelmed or worse yet, driven crazy by the tremendous amounts of necrotic, dark side energy oozing out of the central core of the weapon. Those that were force sensitive though, would only enter the place at their own risk.

Luckily in Credius' case, as long as he wore his guise as Darth Halcyon within the Sith Empire, he also always donned his personal armor, which though perhaps not the most insanely overpowered piece of mystical technology to be found within the Sith Empire, did serve its purpose beautifully, allowing for his already extensive control and command over the force to even be further amplified to the next level, something which in this case would prove to be very useful, as the chances of him being overwhelmed by the surrounding locus of dark side energy were next to nihil.

Upon reaching the blastdoors to the control room, the Sith Lord immediately got annoyed by the fact that there were no guards posted there, which he instantly noticed to be a rather foolish strategy, relying purely on the immense presence of dark side energy would not suffice if there were any strong jedi or other powerful force sensitives around. "Send a squad of sith troopers down to the central controle room," Credius' muffled and raspy voice rang through over the intercom, not even trying to hide his frustration with the overconfidence of the people aboard the Ultima. If one jedi had managed to infiltrate to the point of being able to confront the emperor, so too would others be likely to arrive. "If I don't see any troopers at the central command soon, I will have you all thrown into the reactor."

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Tempest"]

Once again, forking arcs of pure, dazzling lightning clawed their way towards Enyo. The Cyborg had felt the build-up of power, then the eruption. She could not maintain her telekinetic vice-grip and defend herself. Lightning hit her and she released Tempest from her grip. There was no time to summon a comprehensive telekinetic barrier to shield her body from the surge of electricity. She had to contend herself with simply forming a protective cocoon around her skull. Her armour was smoking, and she could not allow her brainbox to be further compromised. It was still unacceptably hot inside it.

Her armour protected her from the lightning to a degree, but not totally. The Absorbelt assimilated what it could, then gave up the ghost. Sparks flew, the Cyborg staggered and, as smoke coiled from her off-hand, the hammer fell from her grasp. It hit the ground with a loud, resounding thud. By chance or design, a stray lightning bolt hit one of the panels in the control room, blowing it up.

When Enyo tried to move the fingers of her damaged hand, she found that they would not respond. Her hand was smoking. Disabled. The arm was useless. Grimly, she drew Endurance with her dominant hand. It ignited in a flash of burning violet. She was also walking with an evident limp. Her skin was ripped and torn, exposing the metal beneath it. Her body was twitching. But she had messed up one of her foe's legs and gotten closer.

She harnessed the energies of the Force. Her aura felt diminished due to the damage her organic components had sustained, but she was not attempting another Force Crush. Instead she opted for a simpler power that was inherent to her. Mechu-Deru. Her technopathic attack targeted Tempest's helmet. To be precise, it was directed against her HUD. The aim was to distort her vision for just a few moments. By no means a full shutdown, but something to occupy and distract the Dahomian for a very short interval.

In which Enyo crossed the remaining distance and launched a downward chopping cut. The strike was directed towards Tempest's sword hand, aiming to cut it at the wrist. The Dahomian was wearing tanky beskar armour, but it would have to have segmented plates in order to allow her to move in it. The joint areas would lack the heavy plating. Moreover, a lightsabre lacked hand protection. Enyo hoped to leave the Firemane officer with a stump.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Emperor snarled as the Jedi Monk danced inside of the range of his weapon, allowing his arm to be pulled down along with his weapon. But with one hand on his lightsaber, the other was free to do what it pleased. It lashed out, reaching to grasp the Jedi by the fabric of his robe. The Emperor's own strength was augmented by two factors, the genetic manipulation of his physical body, and the Dark Side of the Force flowing through every fiber of his being.

He'd attempt to find good purchase, and with a hearty heave, lift the Jedi Monk above his head with one hand and throw him away and down into the floor. "Pitiful cretin." Snarled the Emperor, his eyes blazing with unfathomable malice, the air rich with the stench of death and rot. "You have no idea what powers you trifle with. It has been perfected, the Force will soon bow like all others must."

All across the superweapon, patrols were put on high alert. The positions of highest importance were well-guarded, protected by the Emperor's own guard, and augmented further by Sith, genetically enhanced golems, alien soldiers, and even Yuuzhan Vong brutes. It was a veritable carnival of the brutal and the macabre, all of them drunk on the powers of darkness that seemed to permeate every deck of Ultima, drenching all who passed through them in unimaginable dread.

"The Light's time has come, it is the Dark's turn to rule all creation."

He thrust his left hand out, fingers curled in like talons, as a stream of azure flames burst forth from the center of his palm in a spiraling cone that was, at its widest, about three meters in width. The flames would leave the metal floor beneath them untouched, unblemished by conflagration, but it would easily consume flesh and fabric.

[member="Tiland Kortun"] | [member="Credius Nargath"] | [member="Cedric Grayson"] | [member="Loske Matson"]​

 

[Tiland Kortun]

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

It was quite to his surprise that Tiland found himself being lifted bodily off the floor by his robe. He managed to keep the cords wrapped around the lightsaber as the durasteel deck seemed to drop away from him. The man's strength was impressive, even for a Sith Lord. Tiland twisted his body around, aiming to wrap his legs around his opponent's neck as he was suddenly hurled away.

Tiland absorbed that momentum and flipped his body away, trying to turn to land on his feet. He didn't make it, however, and slammed into the floor. His staff clattered and skittered across the floor and the breath was knocked from his lungs. Pain shot through his side and back.

Flaming blue light hurtled towards him and engulfed the hem of his robe, devouring it instantly. The Anzati hurled himself across the floor, but the flames would not go out. This was no fire. It was some manifestation of the Dark Side.

Pain seared up his side again as the flames reached his skin, but he let the pain flow away, like water into a stream. Downstream into a still, silent pool. It was another who was in pain. It was merely a physical sensation, and Tiland was one with the Force. He brought his hands together and ripped his robe away, Light shining forth in a bright burst that nearly blinded him for several moments.

Around him, he could feel the flames diverting around him as he pulled himself to his feet, the last of the outer robe burning away from the backwash, revealing a torso hardened with lean, corded muscles and covered with deep, vicious scars.

"Pain is an illusion to a Jedi who relies on the Force, Darth. And no matter how deep the darkness, even the faintest light is enough to shine through."

His breath was calm and voice still as he pushed forward into the flames, the light growing brighter and broader with each slow step until it burst out from his hands in a wave towards the Sith Emperor. He pushed forward again, limping from the burns along his side and legs.

"And there is no power greater than that of the cosmic Force and it bows to nothing, for it is all things."

 

[Kiyron]

[member="Cedric Grayson"] [member="Loske Matson"] [member="Atlas Drake"] [member="Vigil Rostu"]
[member="Credius Nargath"]

=======

The cockpit slid back silently and Kiyron vaulted over the lip onto one of the wings in a crouch, his carbine already pulled up to cover the others as they slipped out of the fighters. Only the HUD in his visor let him know for sure where they were, since the Reflec distorted the light and electronic signatures. They barely appeared on any of his sensors and once the other three were out, they moved down, following the other two, who were clearly see.

"Don't worry, Jedi," Kiyron said quietly through the helmet, despite being very difficult to see. The Jedi would be able to sense them though. They had no such defenses against that. "I once fought the Emperor and his apprentice at the same time and survived. Came loaded for Sith."

Not that their armor served much protection against lightsabers, but enough to keep him alive long enough to put the hard-sound weapons into play. Against elite armored soldiers, it would be of less use, but if they caught a Sith by surprise? Well, the thought of shattering eardrums and melting some Sith brains was rather appealing. "You have any more intel on which target to hit? Easiest is to disable from the control room. Don't have the force capability for that. Need a softer target."

Beside him, one of his operatives was using a laser cutter to cut into the wall and access the wiring and circuitry inside. Sparks flew as the piece was cut away and they plugged in a data spike while the other two took up defensive positions to cover the corridors.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Location: Sisio
Objective: Start evacuating
Allies: [member="Atlas Drake"] [member="Kyrana Gould"]
Enemies: [member="Fiolette Raaf"] [member="Captain Alkar Kabar"]

"May the Uukaablians provide cover, and have our own long-range firepower and escorts cover for the destroyers' landing!"

"Commencing landing sequence" the pilot of the Hero of Coruscant acknowledged, as it and the Sionoma began their descent towards the planet in an attempt to start the evacuation.

"Deploy all squadrons! Target the enemy interdictors and artillery ships"

The Sith opened fire at the Uukaablians, which meant that the time to start landing, and firing at the Sith, has begun. Because the landing process had the screening force and the two destroyers descend to the surface of the planet, these forces were in position to fire at the enemy's underside, alongside some fighters armed with two cluster missiles apiece, as well as torpedo bombers armed with energy torpedo launchers. But this meant the ventral guns of both destroyers used for evacuation were not firing at the enemy unless they were missile launchers, in which case the homing nature of the ammunition will make it so that the firing arc isn't that big of a deal, even less at the longer edges of standard turbolaser range. Or somewhat longer than that. Hopefully the escorts, which included the usual Skors, C-9982s, and a much smaller number of cruisers, would be able to hit back, and yet both the screening force and the destroyers had potentially the best angles to fire at the enemy above them, short of flying behind, knowing they won't face all the enemy firepower at once.

"Targeting solutions acquired, even though we won't be able to dent the enemy SSD" Julie had the ship's controls set to track the main batteries' readiness to fire.

"Fire for effect!" she ordered before several volleys fired their first salvo at interdictors and artillery ships from the edge of standard turbolaser range.

 

[Credius Nargath]

Location: Ultima Central Controls
Allies: TSE
Enemies: [member="Kiyron"] [member="Loske Matson"] [member="Cedric Grayson"]

It was something within his bones, within the force itself. The immensely overwhelming amount of dark side energy would've made most turn into bloody savages, revelling in brutality and carnage without proper consideration of their actions and lack of any intelligent thought in their primal consumption of the power seeping into them. Luckily though, Darth Halcyon had undergone the trials on Eriadu, he had survived the Spire and in doing so had learned a valuable lesson. Power is only as good as the mind directing it and through that end, he managed to refrain from becoming drunk on the power which was permeating the place.

Sith Troopers had been stationed outside of the blast doors to the central command, all to face the inevitability of intruders. It did not matter though, nothing really mattered to the Sith Lord. For his own designs did not truly lean on wether or not the empire was succesfull in this assault, the only thing which matter was that if push came to shove, his own survival was more preferrable than that of this immense superweapon. However, for now, there was not yet any need to contemplate on such matters, as after all...his own curiosity and hunger for knowledge drove him to see this to the end.

Standing still within the Central command, his eyes closed and the only sound that of his breath through the breathing apparatus and voice modulator of his helmet. The Sith Lord allowed his consciousness to drift along the flow of the force, his senses attuned with it as he sought to find that which irked him the most. Halcyon had felt it, there was light present, dim beneath the roiling waves of dark side energy, but still a light nonetheless and a light which had to be snuffed out or repelled. "They're coming..." Halcyon sighed silently, his fingers slightly twitching as black, electric sparks glimmered in between them, slowly and steadily drawing into himself the excess dark side power within the central command. "pointless actions by pitiful children playing with forces they cannot hope to understand."

Stragglers, bandits, rebels, assassins, he had faced all of those in his past...but he felt this time, there was a jedi and that was something he had not yet faced. Someone worthy of his time.