Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?

[Mirien Valdier]

Mirien gasped feeling the shift as the force was torn from her. The dizziness nearly overwhelmed her for a moment as she stumbled in her step. It was then that Naamah had grabbed, pushing her against the wall. Her eyes widened a bit confused as the woman kissed her but the meaning soon became clear as the Imperial Guardmen entered the picture and spoke. Mirien's heart was racing, fear almost overwhelming as Naamah released her and spun on her heels to face them.

The blonde's quick actions gave her a chance. Just a split second but that was all she needed as her body fell back on years of training. 'Underneath all of that raw power must be a warrior. Should the force ever be lost to you, you should be able to fall seamlessly upon skill, upon instinct. It all must be there. Or you will die.' She remembered those words as she took a step forward off the stone wall of the alleyway.

The former Grand Inquisitor fell instantly back onto instincts that had been drilled into her through grueling tests and trials as she rose through the ranks of the Inquisitor. As the third Guardman stepped towards her, she reached out snapping his wrist as she twisted his blaster from him. It only took her a second more as she tore his helmet from him, then broken his neck with a sharp crack as she twisted his head further than it should ever go.

With a cold gaze, she turned to Naamah as his body fell to the ground. With her own inner demon coming out, she gave a firm stomp to his face. At this point, she simply no longer cared about the outcome, no longer cared for anything expect the singular goal of finishing the task and somehow making it out alive.

Her eyes scanned the ground for a moment looking over the dead men. "Should take their armor and get rid of the bodies. After all two guardsmen in their underwear might be a small clue for some dimwit." She said firmly as she knelt down and started to strip the gear from the man she'd just killed. "At least he kept it warm for me." Spoken as she started to shimmy into the suit.

"We'll take a left, just up ahead we should come to a set of stairs that will put us on the second level of the palace. We'll just have to get through the guards there." Even her words had grown icy and unfeeling. One almost wondered what exactly set her off into the old Mirien. The cold hard queen she used to be. It was almost as if two women resided in her. She breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly, settling her mind further. With that she started to drag the half naked man off, over to a nearby dumpster to toss him in.

[member="Naamah Aesham"]

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Mirien Valdier"]


Three dead guards. Three broken symbolic manifestations of the Atrisian State. It was a beautiful sight. Naamah could not help licking her lips. Mirien had turned cold again. Deprived of the Force, Naamah could feel the magnificient iciness resonate from her. She could not bask in her delicious viciousness. Still the Ice Queen was beautiful to her. Indomitable, vicious, her heart encased in a wall of ice, yet ready to unleash a storm upon those foolish enough to stand in her way. She could be magnificient.



Especially if she reclaimed her true destiny and no longer denied what she truly was. It would be a beautiful dream. The ice itself was comforting...there was warmth inside it. For now she would settle with Atrisia burning. Naamah moved mechanically as if on automatism, stripping a guard of his armour and disposing of the body. The unfortunate guardsman joined his comrade inside the sewer. Undoubtedly he would be missed but hopefully by then they would be finished here.


Now clad in the crimson-coloured phrik armour of an Imperial Guard, Naamah followed the path laid out by Mirien. There were guards, more guards and droids, but they passed through. In the distance soldiers could be seen marching on parade and her ears were violated by a chorus being sung by schoolchildren dressed in patriotic uniforms, but she paid them no mind. Their symbol would soon be dead, their hopes crushed. Luck or perhaps the Force was with them and soon they would find themselves passing through the specified building.


And eventually on to the rooftop. Imperial Guards could be found there, covering all they surveyed with shadow rifles. Two shots from a shatter gun ended their irrelevant existence without raising any noise. "Let's take the guns," Naamah said quietly. At best they would have five minutes before the cavalry charged them, and so she quickly kicked a body out of the way and picked up a shadow rifle lying on the floor.

 

[Mirien Valdier]

Mirien took a heavy breath, glancing to Naamah. "Good idea." She certainly loved shadow rifles, and had been extensively trained with them. Instantly she grabbed one, and quickly before taking her position on the roof.

"We've six shots a piece." She whispered as she checked the weapon.

Reaching to her wrist, she pressed a small timer. Setting it for four minutes, thirty seconds, and starting it immediately. Mirien felt the need to keep track of the precious moments they had. For it wasn't long and the task they had top do required precision and a little bit of luck. "Keep your eyes peeled for her." Her eyes scanning the area looking for the Atrisian Empress intent fully on ending her life this day.

Now unfortunately all they could do was wait. And such a task after so much adrenaline had been pumping through their systems would undoubtedly be a difficult task. And that was all counting on the cavalry to take about five minutes to figure everything out and discover exactly where our two ladies were.

[member="Naamah Aesham"]

 

[Madeline Kahoshi]

The growing sense of something wicked coming her way was growing in her mind and could no longer be ignored. For Madeline was starting to realize the dangers were very real, and staying put was something she could no longer do. Nervousness was overwhelming her as she waved off the nobles in line, "I will see no one else today." Spoken firmly, presenting confidence even if she was ready to fall apart inside. "Clear the throne room. The festivities will continue in the square in an hour." Little did Madeline know that this was her final hour, and she'd never made it to the square for the festivities. But in her mind right then, she just wanted the people gone so she could return to being herself once more.

Taking a deep breath she rose to her feet and motioned for her guards to return to her side. Right now she needed to get out of the throne room and somewhere more private as anxiety was starting to become problematic for her as her breathing was rapidly increasing and her hands starting to tremble as her heart raced within her chest.

All very human of her as she started to make her exit from the throne room. The panic, skewing her judgement enough to put escaping the room over her very own safety. It certainly wasn't the wisest move on Madeline's part, but the woman could hardly help it. Would it be that her anxiety would be her own downfall? Today, it very well could be.

Glancing to all the security around her, worry starting to show on her face. Is it enough? She wondered as she scanned over all the protective measures. The feeling within her gut was a firm no. No. This time, she had the deep resounding feeling that all the protection was not going to be enough today and truly her life was in grave danger. That she was starting to feel. But was it panic and paranoia, or was it something more. As Madeline wasn't completely cut off from the mystical field of the force. For she was mildly senstive to it given her family line. It was as she passed another group of guardsmen with a ysalamiri that the woman stumbled as dizziness overcame her and a great headache started to form.

"M'lady are you alright?" One the the Empress' Own asked her, as he caught her arm keeping her from falling further.

"I... I .. I'm fine. Just a little dizzy. It's the anxiety." She declared quickly, for her guards were very much aware of the woman's panic attacks as they had to do so much to prevent the public from ever seeing her in those states.

"Here, you should take this." Offering a syringe of a mild sedative to her.

"Thank you." The Empress spoke softly as she stopped to administer the drug.Madeline had stopped in front of one of the windows by chance. Lifting it to her wrist she quickly injected the drug with a small hiss of pain. Taking in a deep breath she slowly rubbed at her wrist, trying to ease the sting away.

"We need to get moving Empress, it's not safe here." A gently hand placed upon her shoulder trying to usher the woman onward.

"I only need a moment, please." The sedative was quick acting, already forcing the woman to calm down. However, it always tended to make her sleepy and her judgement always slightly altered for the duration of the drug. Her eyes were focused on something outside the window, but what it was Madeline couldn't even be sure.

"M'lady, we can't. We need to go now." Her guards seemingly picking up on that grim feeling, trying to urge her to safer places within the palace.

"Okay." Finally spoken as she started to step away from the window.

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Mirien Valdier"]


The time had come.


The moment was at hand. The clock was ticking, but she did not care. So much adrenaline was pumping through her body that it was difficult to focus, but she managed. As she crouched over the rooftop and looked through the scope of her sniper rifle, she finally saw her. Madeline Kahoshi. The queen who had slaughtered her family and made her time in the dungeon a living hell.


Now was the time for vengeance, for this time Madeline would not escape. After that....she did not care. So she adjusted her position slightly so that she had a better firing angle. "I see her," she whispered quietly, though it was likely Mirien would already have the Atrisian Empress in her sights as well. This was vengeance, this was justice in its purest form. Blood for blood, even though Madeline's death would be far more merciful than she deserved.


And then Atrisia, her country, would go down in flames. Her finger moved to the trigger. The pain she was feeling and the exhaustion no longer mattered to her one bit. Likewise the legions of stormtroopers and droids beneath them were insignificant, along with the nagging sense that told her troopers would soon storm up the building to them. There was just her, her rifle and Madeline. Naamah squeezed the trigger and fired. An invisible, silenced laser beam shot out straight for Madeline's chest to put out her heart. Forever.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Madeline Kahoshi"]


The ysalamiri could have no effect on her. For Moira was dead to the Force. Even as a human she had been blind to its curents and flows, unable to touch it. There had been a time when Moira hated and feared their kind. Now she walked confidently amongst them. A machine is not capable of fear.



As such she was also incapable of farsight, battle precognition or a variation of that power. However, she had a solid analytic ability and good instincts. Mirien and her companion had eluded the Imperial troops, though bodies had been found in the sewers. Stormtroopers and battle droids were fanning out, searching hideout for hideout, drones were up in the air. They were here somewhere...close by. Where would Moira be if she wanted to take a shot at the Empress and kill her? Cold, mechanical eyes travelled across the room as Madeline halted. Moira was about to urge her to move on instead of standing there, gazing at the window...


At the window. Immediately Moira's eyes were drawn to the rooftop that was so conveniently facing their present location in the palace. Mirien, I commend you, the death machine thought to herself. Yes, she felt something like respect. Then everything happened in what be called slow motion. "Get down!" Without waiting she surged forward, moving with blinding speed as she grabbed Madeline in order to pull her down as suddenly the window's glass was shattered by a shot.

 

[Mirien Valdier]

Mirien saw her alright. The tenseness in her body was hard to ignore she she breathed in slowly, and then out as she squeezed the trigger. She'd seen the glass shatter right as she pulled her own trigger. With luck Naamah had her first, but it was then that she spied Moira Skaldi in the window. The last woman she'd seen before her chosen exile. Forced to leave, or more of her family would die. Though, it saved scant few of them in the end. She took a second shoot, hoping to nail the robot queen in the process. For this was indeed personal for both Naamah and herself.

It was then that she glanced to her wrist, "Sixty seconds, we have to go now." There was no certainty that they'd gotten Madeline. But with luck they'd hear something soon through the radio's of the Imperial Guardmen's helmets.

"Empress is hit. Protect the Empress." Words echoed in her ears as she started to get up on her feet to head off the roof and flee. The time to leave was now. "Make sure she is safe!" Another spoke through the com, and soon other questions rang through asking for orders, and of the Empress herself. "Fan out, find them NOW!" Another shouted.

[member="Naamah Aesham"]

 

[Madeline Kahoshi]

At first Madeline wasn't sure what exactly had happened. She'd felt Moira's hands on her, trying to pull her down to the ground. Her mind didn't follow what exactly was going on. There was a strange burning sensation against her back, but pain wasn't quite there yet. The Empress collapsed to the ground and found herself suddenly looking up at her personal guards around her.

In the shock induced state her hands traveled down against her chest and stomach feeling for some injury. So many voices surrounded her trying to assess the situation. It wasn't until she pulled her hands back after encountering a wetness, that she understood. Looking to her hands, her beautiful cream dress, all covered in crimson blood. Her chest and an upper portion of her stomach had been badly wounded. Much blood poured out. "There's s-so much blood." The scientist declared.

Her closest guard had knelt beside her, pressing both hands against the wound. "We need to move. Get her to a stasis unit, now! She's not safe here!"

"How bad is it?"

"It's fine M'lady, you'll be alright." Truthfully he wasn't terribly optimistic of that, but he had to be right then for her. He wasn't about to tell her the truth.

"Moira..." Fumbling around she tried to reach the HRD, hoping for something from her, even if just a hand to hold. "Moira, please .... tell me?" The Atrisian queen only wanted the truth from someone, anyone at that point and was starting to wonder how bad it really was if they all looked so grim around it.

It was right about then that a wave of pain rolled through her and the ebony haired woman cried out in pain as she attempted to reach for the wound, and found herself soon pinned to the ground. "Don't move Madeline, you'll only hurt yourself further. Let us take care of you. You do it enough for us, it's our turn now." It was the first time she'd heard her first name from one of her guards. Hearing this, now Maddie truly worried, fearing the worst of her wounds. It already was getting harder to breathe, and difficult to keep her eyes open. "Hey, stay with us Madeline, come on now." Patting gently against her face to keep her awake.

"We need to move her, now. It's not safe here. They are still out there. We need to get her to the hospital now. We cannot delay." Another spoke over the chaos.

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Madeline Kahoshi"]


All had happened so fast. Almost too fast for even a human replica droid to process. Moira could not feel pain, for she was not alive truly but a machine, but the impact of a high-powered laser beam tossed her back as she tried to pull Madeline to safety and made her fall. The laser blast burnt through her synthflesh like a hot knife through butter. Smoke coiled off her and revealed...a badly damaged face. One half of it had been burnt and roasted so badly that the metal beneath her cloned skin was revealed.


Madeline, now splattered with blood and upon the brink of death, would look upon the face of a machine when she looked at Moira. One half of her face was still human looking, the other was covered by a durasteel plate, her eye flashing a bright blue. The attendants and guards visibly recoiled at the sight of the assassin droid.



"Moira...please tell me?"



Madeline wanted brutal honesty and she would get it. "The wound is mortal. They cannot save you," Moira said softly. The gruesome scenery and her frightening face probably even more inhumane due to the eeriely calm tone as she spoke.


"What is this...she's a machine?! She must be in league with them!" a guard shouted, though he seemed uncertain.


"Out of the way, we must get Her Majesty to safety! Call medics now," another attendant cried out, evidently trying to get things going again.


In this moment Imperial Guards appeared in the room, blasters levelled and force pikes drawn. They saw Moira, a blood-stained Madeline, the attendants. "Traitors! Skaldi has launched a coup. Kill the machine, save the Em..."


There was no time to speak further words as Moira sprang into action. As the guardsman closest to her looked uncertain she reached out to grab neck and snap it like a twig with a loud crack. In the same motion she seized his arm and used his own bolt pistol to fire.


BANG BANG BANG


Guards fell and she gave the dead body a powerful shove, sending him flying into one of his companions. A guardsman charged and brought his sword down to ram it into her but she grabbed his arm. For a moment the soldier struggled visibly then cried out in pain when she tore his arm off, then slammed her boot into his nuts. Producing a miniaturised shatter gun from a hidden place in her pants she squeezed the trigger and fired when a trooper tossed an ion grenade her way, making it short out and explode prematurely before it could reach her. Bullets and blaster rounds flew, limbs were broken, soldiers died. A force pike was thrust into her back and she reeled before she spun around and abruptly took the guard out by smashing her fist through his visor.


By the time she was done, the room was strewn with corpses and she turned back to Madeline. "I can. Come with me if you want to live." Cloth was bound and applied around Madeline's injuries as an improvised bandage, then the death machine picked up the dying Empress, craddling her as she quickly ran. As this happened, she sent a purely electronic transmission to all Archangle units.


Execute Case Koba. That was all they needed to know. The command would go to every single Archangel droid in Jar'kai. Every single one. This included the battle droids, droidekas and HRDs that had been sold to the Atrisian military. Case Koba was every simple: Cover Moira and Madeline's escape through escort and secure a ship for them, raid Imperial Shipworks and the Empress' laboratory.

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Mirien Valdier"]


The queen was dead? Was she really? There was no time to be sure that they had landed a lethal hit. Mirien had taken a shot at the metal queen...but she could be sure she had been taken out. But now they had to go...right away.



Sixty seconds...fifty nine...fifty eight...fifty seven. "Yes." Nothing more needed to b said and so she raced away from the roof and down the stairs. Sheer adrenaline drove her as she willed her tired legs to run as fast as she could, despite the tiredness that had set in. Volleys of blaster fire came shooting her way as she raced down. Her armour fortunately deflected the bulk of the blasts, but pain still shot through her, then she cried out when an armour-piercing round from a bolter smashed through the armour.


Naamah fell but as she tumbled managed to knock down an overeager Imperial soldier. An HRD grabbed her and violently tore off her helmet. She felt bones snap as the death machine grabbed her wrist and twisted...sooo much pain. Her free hand desperately tried to grip her blaster and fire, but most shots were just strays that went nowhere, then she felt the droid's metal hand enclosing around her throat. As she felt the life being squeezed out of her in desperation she managed to grip an ion grenade and tossed it at the droid's feet.


At this close range, the electrical shock hurt her as well and she was seized by an electrical shock, crying out, but the ion blast had damaged vital systems of the droid, making it shake. With a shaking hand - the still intact one - she grabbed her blaster and fired...again and again and again, till the machine gave up the ghost and crumpled.

 

[Madeline Kahoshi]

It wasn't the words Madeline wanted to hear. No one wants to learn that they are mortally wounded, beyond saving. But that were where Maddie was as she stared up at the machine that had saved her from instant death. Now where she lay it seemed her death would be drawn out, painfully extended as the people she worked closely with desperately tried to save her life. "Thank .. you." She managed, thankful for the respect and decentcy to tell her the honest brutal truth when no one else would dare tell her. Laying on her death bed as it were, honesty was something she could respect.

"It hurts..." She managed, as tears started to fall. The taste of blood within her mouth a clue of how bad things were getting for her. As more of her blood spilled out onto the floor, she grew sleepy, exhausted and so desperately wanted to rest.

Her eyes followed as the fighting broke out around her. She tried to speak, "Did ..n-not ... attack ...." Beyond that the Empress found herself unable to speak, unable to really move as her began growing cold.

"Please, h-help .... mm-me. Don't w-ant to die." Madeline managed in reply as Moira worked to cover her wounds to slow the bleeding. The Empress cried out in agong as the HRD scooped her up, and fled with her. It was all she could do just to keep her eyes open as drowsiness grew worse, and still much blood seeped through the improvised bandages. She could barely lift her hands to attempt to hold some pressure against the wounds, anything to try and save herself for she had not quite resigned herself to death just yet.

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Madeline Kahoshi"]


One could not expect much sympathy or any real form of comfort from a death machine. To them one organic was like the other. How they died did not matter, be it through disease or violence. Yet briefly Moira looked down upon Madeline as she carried her, seemingly the calmness in the storm. "You will not," Moira said softly as she rushed down the halls of the palace. Chaos and pandaemonium had broken out. The HRD had no doubt that word of the attempt on the Empress' life had spread. Very soon the aristos and military commanders would be making a bid for power. With no legitimate heir to the throne, a vicious power struggle was the most likely outcome. Moira was...completely and utterly indifferent. Who knew, maybe the mob would even rise up in rebellion after their Benevolent Mother had been slain. Pogroms and witch hunts would follow.


She raced down towards the private hangar of Madeline. There were guards who tried to stop her, but they died. She was not alone, for her retreat was covered by the security apparatus of death machines. Imperial soldiers, guardsmen and confused bureaucrats died in a hailstorm of blaster and bolter fire as they were ruthlessly cut down by HRDs. Screams and the cries of the wounded resonated across the halls. One of the dead just happened to be the Count who had so annoyed Madeline earlier. As a matter of fact, he died by having his neck broken.


A heavy durasteel door refused to grant her entrance to the hangar. Explosive charges were placed and a controlled demolition made the door vanish. Guards perished in a hailstorm of fire and then the hangar was empty and there was silence. Well, empty except for the personal shuttle of the Empress. Quickly Moira boarded it, followed by the HRDs with her. Some of them wore the phrik armour that was the hallmark of the Imperial Guard of Atrisia...a guard without an empress, without a ruler...


Madeline was quickly brought to the medbay and laid down. An HRD would see to her wounds as best as she could as she was placed in a medical casule and so within moments the shuttle had shot out of the hangar and taken to the sky. One of her minions was piloting the craft whilst Moira...busied herself with sending a transmission. A direct transmission to the channels of the Imperial stormtroopers and the ISB. Using the voice of the ISB Director. After all, an HRD could fake voices perfectly!


"Soldiers of Atrisia, agents, a terrible crime has taken place! The despicable witch Valdier and reactionary traitors within the aristocracy have cruelly tried to murder our beloved Empress. In the name of the Benevolent Mother, I declare a state of emergency. Unsheath the sword of vengeance and purge the scum!"


These dramatically spoken words were followed by a list of...pretty much the elite of Atrisian society, captains of industry, aristocrats, several high-ranking military commanders...who were all marked as traitors in league with the witch Mirien Valdier. All this was sent over a secure, encrypted channel to the ISB and its stormtrooper units, along with the Empress' Imperial Guard. Doubtless many units would disobey or perhaps not even receive the orders given the sheer overload of comms traffic, but in any event the result would be...chaos. It would be beautiful!



In the Imperial Shipworks building meanwhile stormtroopers were caught off-guard when suddenly HRDs and droidekas turned and opened fire upon them. There was no warning, no reprieve, no mercy. The death machines killed the way they did everything: Dispassionately, without feeling, without mercy. When the smoke cleared the halls of the building was filled with corpses, though likewise many machines had been blown to scrape as well. Deep inside the bowels of the Imperial Shipwork HQ, an HRD accessed the mainframe of the server and downloaded...everything that had been designed by the company. HRDs were master hackers after all. Blueprints for stealth drop pods, Atrisian tanks, quadrupedal walkers, battleships, even the Atsushi...Moira jolted when she was suddenly flooded with information as it was transmitted her way.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Mirien Valdier"]



"There we are, now be a good girl and don't sneak out of bed the moment I turn my back to you. By the Goddess, you're lucky I was there. I'd point out all the reasons why what you did was stupid, but you would not listen to me anyway. Sometimes I wonder why I bother," Eileithya spoke sternly and with a hint of exasperation, though the warmth in her eyes showed she was truly concerned for Siobhan.



"Because I'm a devout believer in Her glory and always attend Her rites?" Siobhan asked sarcastically as she laid down in bed, looking very tired and worse for wear. Luckily for her, the Eldorai Priestess had been there to heal her burns, so she no longer looked and felt like she had been roasted alive. She was still not in good shape though.


"Only because you want to sleep with all of Her handmaidens," Eileityha pointed out reasonably before tucking her in, making sure Siobhan's head was firmly propped up in a pillow and that a blanket was draped over her. "What in the Goddess' name possessed you to have a squad of droids bombard you with blasters and fire?"


Siobhan sighed slightly, already drifting off to sleep. "Lovers' quarrel," she muttered to herself, though given Eldorai hearing the Priestess would obviously hear her.


Eileithya looked concerned at that and affectionately stroked Siobhan's hair. "With Tegaea? I'm sorry."


Siobhan shook her head. "No...Mirien. Look, I don't want to talk about it. It's...private."


"Oh. Well, whatever it is, work it out. I have never met her, but I know you share a connection. And human lives are too short for such grudges. Especially if you insist on getting yourself beaten up in training sessions. But now sleep well, dear." She gave Siobhan a kiss on her cheek and then departed from the room, switching off the light. Siobhan soon drifted off to sleep as the realm of Morpheus claimed her.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

The downfall was at hand. Word had indeed spread fast across Jar'kai, almost at the speed of light. Empress Madeline Kahoshi, the indomitable heroine of the Atrisian, the Benevolent Mother who had shielded them from the evil witches, was down. Was she dead? No one among the populace seemed to know for certain. But one immediate consequence was plain as the day: Chaos had broken out.



A tidal wave of rage, anger and hatred had overwhelmned the city. It was a titanic explosion. Misled by the message Moira Skaldi had faked, the ISB mobilised and began a witch hunt for traitors, wreckers and sloths. Arisocrats who had assembled for the festival had barely enough time to learn of what had happened to the sovereign before they found themselves summarily gunned down by firing squads. The Imperial Revolutionary Guards, humiliated by their failure to terminate the evil traitor Mirien Valdier, suddenly found themselves under fire as they came under suspicion of collusion.


Needless to say, they returned fire, for as their Commander declared, it was the reactionary aristocrats and the Imperial Guards who had been in league with the traitors, not to mention Skaldi. For how else could two witches have penetrated the security apparatus and gunned down the icon of the Atrisian people? The time had come for vengeance and to complete her revolution! The blood of traitors, heretics and parasites would consecrate Jar'kai in her name and wipe away the stain of their failure.


And so....shots were fired. Soon small battles and skirmishes were being waged across the city. Columns of soldiers opened fire at one another, mortars and artillery thundered. The ground shook under the brutal onslaught as walkers and tanks were deployed to 'restore order'. Order against whom? No one was certain of that. Far away from Jar'kai, in a top secret facility that could be euphemistically described as a concentration camp, guards made their rounds and gunned down prisoners with blaster bolts or simply took them out by tossing frag grenades into their cells. The prisoners in question were either political oppositionists or captured force-users. The logic was clear: The great Empress had hurt and might even be dead, so those who had refused to bow down to her glory had to go down with her. Thus even after she had died, the mechanisms of the totalitarian state continued functioning...and tore the country apart.


Deep inside the secret laboratory of Empress Kahoshi, chaos and mayhem reigned. Armed with a vicious looking chainsword Callisto Scarlett sliced and diced her way through the stormtroopers with ruthless intensity and dispassionate cruelty. The crash had damaged her badly, exposing her true nature for all to see. Her eyes flashed a fiery crimson that was fitting considering she was staining the sterilised halls and rooms of the lab with blood. Blaster fire and bolter fire rounded throughout the halls, walls were scorched, soldiers perished, for she was at the head of a small task force of HRDs. Brought under direct control via hacking, the automated security systems abruptly turned on the guardsmen, taking them out.


As the smoke cleared, Callisto stepped over the dead body of a guardsmen her chainsword had cleaved in half. "Capture the scientists, disassemble the Spaarti cloning cylinders and ready them for transport. Find the nuclear materiel," she spoke calmly...impassively. They were on a tight schedule but worked with machine efficiency as they went about their tasks, with Callisto turning to a computer and uplinking with it, aiming to download what information she could on the research that had been conducted here, though that would take time. It was very likely that the lab would soon become the target of other parties. Indeed, the fighting between the rivalling factions was getting closer and closer, so that she could already hear the sounds of battle, though this did not trouble here. Madeline down, Jar'kai in flames...Callisto found herself experiencing a very heretical thought. She found that she liked this scenario a lot.

 

[Mirien Valdier]

A blonde and a stormtrooper walk into... Wait, this sounds like the start of a bad joke. It was more like bowling anyway, just with the blonde and a stormtrooper.

Mirien was quick behind Naamah, racing down the stairs. She'd been protected from the bolter shot by Naamah herself and the thought wasn't pleasant. They'd already had to deal with some pretty nasty wounds each and no doubt it was starting to catch up with them both.

The only thing that was keeping Mirien going at this point was the sheer amount of training that she kept up with and maintained. That same overeager soldier had recovered by the time the Grand Inquisitor reached the bottom of the stairs, and launched himself at her. Quickly she grabed his outstretched hand, snapping his arm as she drove her knee against his elbow bending it backwards completely. Then managed to get a hand behind his neck as she turned and promptly slammed his head into the stone wall behind her. His body slumped to the ground as she stepped over him.

Reaching out she grabbed Naamah as the fight with the HRD ended, "Have to keep moving, I know it hurts." She whispered, nearly breathless herself. "Given the injuries," Mirien was quickly looking the shapeshifter over, "Do you think you can turn into Madeline? It might get us further."

[member="Naamah Aesham"]

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Mirien Valdier"]


Naamah was hurting badly by the time Mirien grabbed her. She was bleeding, her head hurt like hell and she was feeling so dizzy that she would have probably been unable to keep herself from falling down the rest of the stairs if the former Grand Inquisitor had not been holding her.


Oh, and there was lots of blood. Seeping out of a gaping wound in her forehead. HRDs were...extremely strong, so suffice to say she would have trouble walking. When she opened her mouth she spat out blood. At least their attackers were all dead. "Yes...I can," she took a very deep breath as she concentrated and soon her features began to shift. She bit down on her tongue to suppress a cry of pain as the transformation took place, for she did not have the focus to accomplish it seamlessly. The change did not go entirely as planned for at first it seemed like she was reverting to her scaly, reptilian form before she finally got it under control. Skin began to soften, though the blood remained, eyes turned blue and her hair lengthened and became ebony.


She breathed in very deeply, sucking in air to give herself oxygen. Well, panting was probably a more accurate term than breathing. Before Mirien's eyes was a perfect facsimile of a blood-stained, badly beaten Madeline. "Now we just need to find some 'loyalists' ready to die for the queen. Wanna raid her lab?"

 

[Madeline Kahoshi]

Madeline found herself almost unaware of the fighting around her as Moira raced with her through the palace to her personal hanger. The woman was far to busy fighting for her own life in that moment, that nothing else really seemed to make save for the next breath, and then the next.

She was gasping heavily as she was laid down upon a bed in the medbay. An HRD working quickly to help keep Madeline alive just a little longer, though the Empress' body resisted at first inching closer to death, as she started to shiver at a perceived cold as more blood seeped from her wound onto the pristinely white sheets beneath her.

Her eyes followed as the droid worked over her, applying bandages, doing everything possible to stop the bleeding, and ease the dying woman's pains before they finally moved her into the medical capsule. Madeline finally able to close her eyes, to rest, but yet still clinging to life.

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Madeline Kahoshi"]


The Imperial shuttle would travel across space at breakneck speed, leaving the benighted world of Atrisia behind it. If one were to look back, one might be able to perceive that chaos was spreading across Jar'kai like wild fire. Soon the battle between rivalling factions would reach space as well and the small Atrisian fleet would be drawn into the great conflagration, but the shuttle passed through unmolested. Its destination was the Lightbringer, Archangel's secret ship.


Cloaked and invisible to detection, hidden thousands of kilometres away, it would be a safe haven. An HRD would stay watching over Madeline and monitoring her condition. Atrisian dropships would likewise be docking on the Lightbriner, delivering the stolen loot from the planet. Immediately after the shuttle had landed Madeline would be conveyed to the med bay of the stealth ship, which would soon then make the jump to hyperspace. They would only wait for the Spaarti cloning tubes to be loaded up onto the vessel.


What units were left on Atrisia to burn and loot would be able to make their own way off the planet during the turmoil it was experiencing. The destination of the Lightbringer was very simple: An unknown planet called Elysium. Unknown to everyone except the leadership of Archangel. Here lay a secret base and a factory. It would be the blessed place where Madeline would be reborn...

 

[Madeline Kahoshi]

Occasionally on the journey Madeline would wake from her slumber crying out in agony. The wound was excruciating, it would have been a most slow and painful death if she had been conscious for it all the way to the end.

The woman wasn't quite aware of what was going to happen on the other end of the journey to Elysium. Her eyes would meet with the cold calm eyes of the HRD above her, working so hard to keep her alive for just a little longer when the Atrisian Empress' body so desperately was ready give in, eager for the endless sleep that would follow.

In her agony she could only watch as more medications were drawn up, injected into external IV's all to extend her life just a little further, a little longer. Without modern medicine, without aide, Madeline would have long been gone.

Her thoughts varied wildly each time she woke. All from where she was, where they were going and what exactly would happen at the end. Then there were thoughts of death, of what the true end would be like for her body. If there was a heaven or hell or if it was the force and to which she would be bound for she was a ruler, and rulers do terribly things with the power they hold, for they must to cling to that power.

There were moments though brief that she was nearly certain she'd be doomed to some form of hell no matter the circumstances. And then there were moments where she clung to her scientific belief that there were no such things, but those moments of clarity were few and far between.

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Madeline Kahoshi"]


SV33649684 was a boring name for a boring planet. Rich in minerals and ores, it was unfortunately completely inhospitable for organics to live on. This made it perfect for Archangel's purposes. Deep within the mountains on the site of an old Loronar mine and factory, lay the secret base of the machine cult.


Heavily defended by concealed Sariss turbolaser cannons that could theoretically shoot a capital ship out of orbit, guarded by swarms of battle droids and HRDs and with ray shields installed inside, it was a formidable base. A hanger containing 36 droid fighters was situated in a cave near the main base. These were able to activate and go into action very quickly. There was only one conventional entrance; near a landing pad in a canyon. The entrance could be sealed and was made of hardened durasteel.


Here the shuttle containing Madeline, still in her medical capsule, and Moira touched down. The machines wasted no time and immediately transported the dying Empress into the base. As usual it was a hub of activity, though all of it was devoted to the great purpose of Archangel. The only organics within the base were those who lay imprisoned, heavily sedated and under constant guard. Day and night the labour droids toiled in the mines to extract, refine and process the valuable minerals and ores that had been the original reason for Loronar's interest in this planet. There was no frivolity, no play, only work and toil for the great project.


If Madeline were conscious, for she would have been sedated, she would have beheld a vision of the future. Sterile, white walls, constant monitoring, pictureperfect HRDs. She would have seen the factory floors in which the machines of a new generation were being put together and constructed. Likewise she would have seen the Spaarti cloning cylinders that were being conveyed to the base and reassembled. She would have known that even now Archangel was doing its utmost to ensure that the research and scientific masterpieces her brilliant mind had come up with would not go to waste.


Atrisia had been a defeat, but with the right tools and frame of mind it could become a victory. Even her life could be saved and she could be reborn in glory. For she would perish...and rise again. Perhaps not on the third day, but close enough. The capsule would be wheeled into the holiest of holies, the room that contained the MKII Processing Device. It was a massive, complex device that could be described as a network of scanning devices, computers and machinery.



Moira Skaldi stood there when Madeline's body was gently removed from the capsule. She had been cleaned, so that now her body was free of bloodstains and likewise stripped of her clothing, though the bandages remained. The droids had not been idle on the Lightbringer during the trip. While the stealth ship lacked the sophisticated capabilities of the secret base, during the trip her body had been wheeled into the functional processing device it contained, which resembled an MRI tube. A complete scan had been performed to map both her body down to the smallest detail and her mind in order to gather the data to create a perfect duplicate. It had taken massive processing power to map her brilliant, beautiful mind, but it had been accomplished.



Thus by the time they reached the base all the data had been acquired for the creation of the droid brain and Archangel could move on to the next stage. "Activate the device. Initiate entechment process," Moira ordered coldly, impassively. However, she could not resist approaching Madeline as she lay there in the sealed chamber and...smile at her. A very human reaction! The smile did not reach her eyes, but then it never did. Still she stood there, hands clasped behind her back, looking almost like a proud parent. Madeline would die and rise again, freed of all organic weaknesses. What is dead would never die, but rise again...stronger and harder. Birth, death, rebirth...it was the cycle of life. Existenc was coming full circle, but death held no power over a being of metal. In these hallowed, sterile halls it was being transcended. Atrisia had not been a defeat...it was the prelude to greater things. Thank you, Mirien Valdier, I could not have done it without you, the death machine thought to herself with a touch of morbid humour as she monitored the proceedings.


The entechment process itself was based on recovered Ssi-ruuvi technology and the methods utlised by a company called Onadax long before the outbreak of the Gulag Virus. Obediently a droid stepped forward and began to activate the entechment device specifically since the scanning had already been accomplished before. The apparatus whirred to life, lights turning on as status updates were made and as things came online. Then a large light came on from above what appeared to be a box between the two chambers. There was a flash of light as Madeline's essence was torn out of her body and transferred into the device that functioned as a holding unit. A holding box one might say, to preserve her essence while her new body was being constructed. Madeline's body would slump over dead, for without its essence it was just an empty shell that would be gotten rid of, since it served no further purpose. Beyond perhaps feeding the Reavers Archangel had acquired over the years and kept around for experimental purposes.



The human Madeline was dead, but her essence, her beautiful mind had been saved. Soon she would have a new body...one made of durasteel and one that would never age. The actual time of putting together the chassis and the skin of an HRD would take longer, though the process could be sped up due to the cloning tubes. When a few days had passed, Madeline's essence would be transferred from the holding box into her new body and she would awaken again...and she would be beautiful.