Electromagnetic Pulse

[The Fateless]

Darth Abyss did not find the time to come to Nar Shaddaa himself.

After all time was in short supply right now, even if the galaxy at large was unaware of that. Other then the crawling fools and insects Abyss had seen the coming threat, both in the future and the present.

Outsider Station, the Time Foundry, Commenor, Rishi. The reports of similar incidents began to stack, the delay between them growing smaller with every passing day. What little time they had left was better spend preparing for the inevitable. War, sieges, death. Facing a foe with highly advanced technology was dangerous, but technology also had some inherent weaknesses. For example Ion and emp weapons. Normally it would be no task at all, for a man of Abyss wealth, to claim such weapons from the Black Market, but other then the lawful elements to the galaxy, the underworld had already reacted to the threat. First the pries had doubled, then tripled, and now they were slowly reaching a level where even Abyss was unwilling to pay up.

After all time was in short supply right now, calling for a more direct solution.
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Nar Shaddaa, Warehouse

The Fateless, created to fill the void the last Hand of the Prophet had left, stood silent within the empty warehouse, her empty, dead eyes focused in the holographic projection before her. Not like she was able to speak anyway, and neither did she desire to. Her master had given her a task, and she would carry it out without question. It was not in her nature, at least not in the one the Prophet had forced upon her, to doubt, to question, to even really think for herself. That was a task better left to Abyss true apprentice, [member="Vereshin"].

Abyss had found a large cache of weaponry, owned by a low level Black Market Vendor that by chance had found remnants of the Clone Wars, where one of the main armies had been composed out of droids. Haywire Grenades, Droid Busters, VES-700 Pulse Rifles, all in all enough to arm a small army. In itself that mission was rather straight forward, but since the Ion and Emp weapons had risen in price, even a low level player suddenly had the wealth for tight security.

The target was few levels below, the outside guarded by at least 40 well armed and well paid goons, ready to kill anyone going for their cargo. Yet Abyss agents found out that there was little to no security on the inside, and even a few speeders that could be used to move it. The challenge was to evade or deceive the guards on the outside.

Still unmoved the woman cursed to undeath stood in the Warehouse, waiting for the other to arrive.

 

[Vereshin]

Polished shoes strode down the boardwalk outside of an industrial warehouse, the mist blowing in from a large river beyond and the smell of fuel and industrial waste hung on the air. A cigarette pressed firmly to his lips with a gloved hand, Vereshin met his contact promptly, late only by a minute or so. The apprentice to Darth Abyss had grown since his training began and he approached the task with confidence. Warming one hand in his pocket, he inhaled deeply on the cigarette as he met the masked visage of the Shadow hand.

Times were turning and events mounted to the rise of the insurgency, a threat Vereshin underestimated before the conflict at the Time Foundry. The apprentice grew more astute and paid greater heed the galaxy around him. Should the droid overlords succeed, every comfort he held dear could be at stake.

"Hello, madam, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Vereshin spoke while discarding the cigarette on the ground beneath the toe of his shoe. His choice of clothing was unassuming, as usual, and he found no need or benefit in wearing robes. The guise of civilian aided in deceiving foes and sliding past obstacles and he wore his favorite, long black coat with the standing collar over dark plus fours, tucked into socks and lace-up shoes. The attire was less cumbersome than Sith apparel and allowed him to move freely. "I am the apprentice to Lord Abyss, in case that was not apparent." He note with a smile of blackening teeth.

"We will move stealthily and make little noise." Standing beside the Fateless, Vereshin took note of the guards and began to contemplate whether to deceive the guards with or without the use of the Force. "This is a task we must complete without detection or trace." He did not intend to stand around and brief the woman and turned on his heel to walk towards them. Removing both his gloves, he welcomed the chill air on his hands in preparation for casting and slid both of his hands into his pockets. "We will approach them with words first, before relying on the force, shed as little blood as possible, we don't want to leave a mess." Waiting for any possible questions the shadow hand may have had, Vereshin turned on his heels and allowed her to follow.

[member="The Fateless"]

 

[The Fateless]

If [member="Vereshin"] expected an answer or even a real reaction from the Fateless then he would only find frustration. She had nothing inside her left to speak words, even her mind was barely capable of tasks that required such an amount of individuality and personality. When Abyss apprentice had finished with explaining his plan the undead woman simply offered a single, slight nod to signal that she understood. Vi probably had caught the hint by now that this wasn't just an important task, albeit one Abyss agents could've carried out, but another test for him. Not one of his strength, but his ability to lead and think for himself, skills they would need even more then weapons in the war to come.

Wordlessly the Fateless followed behind the sorcerer, the mind within the decaying corpse inside the cursed armor working slightly more then it was meant to. The man before her reminded her of someone she knew, or at least she felt that way. Abyss hadn't allowed her to keep much of her memories, but she and many others too had received tutelage and wisdom from the Mindeater. Had she been an apprentice herself, or something different?

The surprising, sudden stream of thoughts was cut of when their target came in sight in the distance. From her back she reached for a dirty, tattered grey cloak, using it to shroud her unusual, and somewhat frightening appearance. She was well aware that she could neither talk, nor enact any other sort of real social interaction by herself, so she decided it would be best to keep a low profile and present herself as some sort of silent guard. Before shrouding her head, she tipped Vi lightly on his shoulder, a single word forming on the mask that kept the skull below hidden.

-Bodyguard-

After that even her mask was concealed by the cloak, and she continued to close the rest of the distance between them and the warehouse. They didn't got anywhere near before a security guard approached them, the heavy disintegrator rifle raised on roughly the height of Vereshin's chest. The man looked no older than thirty, but going by the scars on his face he had seen more war and violence then the two apprentices. His body was almost completely shrouded in armor, parts of remnants of what once clearly had been a mandalorian beskar'gam.

"Stop. I've never seen your faces here, so you better give me a good reason to don't shred you into pieces."

 

[Vereshin]

Vereshin received no answer from his companion beyond a simple nod of acknowledgement, one he returned with a slight nod of his own. The woman received her task and accepted without questions or refusal, the apprentice liked that. He turned on his heel and walked towards the guards, feeling her presence linger behind him. A rising dominance, unfamiliar and new to him, waved over his instructing of the Fateless. He ordered a Force user more meek than himself and realized a growing sense of responsibility. Abyss surely intended to test his ability to lead when assigning the mission.

"That's right." He whispered in a very low tone as the Fateless tapped his shoulder, uttering the single word behind his back. The guards soon came into view and the readying of weapons marred the silence as they gathered around the two Acolytes. "Good evening gentlemen!" Vereshin pulled his hands out of his pockets and splayed them against the air in a gesture of greeting. "I am a merchant looking to take stock of your supplies. My bodyguard and I are due to enter this warehouse." Peeling apart his lips, he smiled genuinely to the guards as one of the larger ones stood before him.

"I am an arms dealer named Yuri Amesdev and I am upholding a contract with the manager of this warehouse." As the guard questioned him, Vereshin raised a hand to nervously slick back his hair. The enormous man, who looked like a former Mandalorian towered over the thing sorcerer and pointed his massive gun into the fabric on Vereshin's sternum. The size of him, the stink of his breath and bodily odor, the heavy armor sent riles of fear and disgust through the spine of the Sith.

A pause hung on the air as the men shifted their gazes. Vereshin raised his eyebrows jovially and continued his pleasant smile, back his palms against the air in subtle preparation as he took a step backwards. The man responded with a grunt and cocked his weapon while the sorcerer took a further step backwards to allow himself space. He shot forward a hand and gripped the man's weapon, coiling his fingers and crushing it underneath the weight of the Force. Splaying his fingers once more, he lunged for the man's head and slipped his grip inside his skull, tearing the arteries in his brain. Blood poured out the nose of the soldier who fell to the ground at their feet.

"You little bastard!" One of the men called while the others readied their weapons. Casting his palms against the air, Vereshin created a wall of thick energy between the men and the fateless while moved in closer to her form. Preparing to penetrate the minds of the imposing soldiers, he called out to the other apprentice in her mind.

"I'm going to weaken them mentally to allow you a chance to take them out swiftly, be ready!" The blastfire rang out as the sorcerer maintained his arcane grip and pulsated the energy before them, absorbing the bolts and preparing to cast again.

[member="The Fateless"]

 

[The Fateless]

While the higher levels of her mind were constantly limited by the mask Abyss had forced onto her face, her instincts were not only equal but far above anything sher had possessed in life. The moment the fight broke out her mind was flooded with images and impulses that lacked any connection to the glimpses of her former existence she could occasionally grasp. These visions of violence and savagery seemed to belong to someone else, and had been patched into her mind in a way she didn't really understood. Yet despite being painful and disturbing, she also found an odd sense of power in them, each a piece of twisted knowledge she had lacked in life.

With another nod she ready her weapon, a rathe unimpressive Vibroblade tied to her back. She never learned to use the weapon, but thanks to the false memories she possessed a acceptable understanding of how to use it. Then the dark side gathered around the woman, not as an attack but as another layer of defense. They physical form of the Fateless became blurred and half translucent. It wasn't the prefect cloak her and [member="Vereshin"]'s master could summon, but it would be enough to temporarily confuse the guards.

While the blaster bolts still rained down on Vi, the Fateless decided to run, getting into a position to kill once the apprentice would unleash his mind on the unassuming men fighting them. With exceptional speed and grace, not just for an undead, she made a sprint, moving her body to a cover a good chunk closer to their enemies. Her cloak didn't stopped the goons from firing on her as well, but combined with her speed she managed to avoid getting hit. Not that she feared the weapons of the thugs, there was no physical pain for her left to feel.

Hunkering down behind a medium sized trashcan she raised a hand in the air to inform Vi that she was ready to strike. Now it was up to Abyss apprentice to create a mental blast strong enough to cut them all down before they could make use of their numerical advantage.

 

[Vereshin]

While Vereshin held the telekinetic barrier in front of himself and the fateless, the other young apprentice darted off behind him to take cover. Coiling his fingers, he collected the barrier and hurled it forward, knocking the guards backwards. As they climbed to the their feet, the sorcerer lunged his palms against the air and grabbed the minds of the men in a collective assault. Images of indescribable horror filled their minds as the imposing and armoured fell to their knees in terror, each grasping their head and spitting at the ground as they shrieked indignantly.

Vereshin could not kill them all on his own, but rather weaken them to allow both of the Sith a chance to eliminate them swiftly. As the Fateless emerged while their guard was down, the sorcerer continued to breach the reality occupying the area of the men. One coiled in a foetal position, his wrists twitching in spasm while saliva poured from his mouth and onto the concrete. Another failed to be caught in the attack and lunged forward to Vereshin who shot out a hand a snapped the bone in his wrist with the Force. The man howled and fell to the ground, clawing at the mage's shoes while spouting indiscernible profanity.

As the man disrupted his concentration, the mental assault failed and Vereshin released his grasp. The fateless had eliminated the remaining guards and allowed them a clear passage into the warehouse. They slipped through the large entrance and Vereshin created a force cloak to shield them from any remaining guards, dissipating the light matter surrounding them and concealing their shapes from view.

"Quickly, move into the lower levels before more security arrives." They slipped undetected through the hall of the first level and reached the doorway of an elevator. Two more guarded waited before the doors. Lowering his barrier to focus on his next attack, Vereshin and the Fateless emerged from nowhere before the stunned eyes of the men. "Good evening!" The sorcerer chortled with a cheery smile while splaying both his hands and gripping the flesh beneath their rib-cages and crushing their hearts in the process. Blood poured from their mouths as they gripped their chests, dropped their weapons and fell to the ground.

Snatching the passkey from the belt of one of the guards, Vereshin slipped it through the security device on the elevator door and allowed the Fateless and himself to pass through. They entered the elevator and the doors closed in front of them. Pushing the button for the next level below, the sorcerer took a deep sigh while he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and regained his energy. The elevator stopped at the next floor where the first load of weapons awaited.

[member="The Fateless"]

 

[The Fateless]

There was close to no delay between the moment [member="Vereshin"] unleashed incomprehensible mental horrors into the minds of the guards and the attack of the Fateless. With inhuman speed and agility the undead woman pulled herself up onto the trashcan, and in one swift movement followed up by leaping down on the first man, the blade in her hands held in a reversed grip. Without a hint of mercy the weapon entered into the throat of the thug, cutting it open before her feet had even touched the ground. She made no pause in between, moving to the next men on the ground and repeating the single cut into the throat until all of them, besides the one attacking Vi, were left dead or so heavily injured that they would bleed out in a matter of minutes.

From there things went unexpectedly smooth, something even the shattered mind of the Fateless could notice. Under the cloak created by Abyss apprentice they moved unheard and unseen, not tipping of any more guards along the way, at least besides the two Vi eliminated so quickly that she didn't even had to raise her blade. The elevator behind them would lead them down to the first weapons cache awaited them, and where according to the intel no further guards would try to stop them.

According to their intel. As the elevator descended them into the heart of the warehouse, she felt a sudden hint of danger, the kind of rampant precognition granted even to the most mindless practitioners of the force.

Abyss had told them truth. No guards waited for them, but that meant in no way that they were alone. The room was filled with six men, all heavily augmented by cybernetic implants, moving crates of the cargo around to prepare it for sale. The second the doors opened various eyes and glowing photosenors fell upon the two apprentices, followed by crates dropping to the ground and shattering. Not only would that make the weapons harder to move, for now their problem would be to deal with six angry cyborgs armed with metal rods or repair tools, charging at them with mechanical speed.

The blade of the Fateless found the chest of the first man, while her armored left managed to hold of an incoming makeshift club. Yet before she could end another live a metal fist reached her chest, sending her back into an chaotic stumble, ending with her finding her balance again once her body hit the now closed doors of the elevator behind her.