Elimination of the Graug Slaveyards [Republic vs. Vulcanus]

[Cedric Dorn]

Diana's transport landed in the midst of the Graug army remains. Daella's orbital bombardment had done quite a bit of damage but it was hardly enough to wipe out everything, one needed to glass a whole world for that. Here and there Graug still managed to move, clawing their way out of rubble and attempting to force their way back to their brothers who were still alive. As the stepped off the transport the blademaster eyed them calmly.

She wouldn't kill them, she would leave that mess to the troopers.

Instead she shifted her gaze towards a very much alive section of the Graug army. Overwhelming numbers compared to the Jedi troops currently on the ground. She watched them for a second, until she noticed the blue streams of a lightsaber among them. Her eyes popped open slightly and before any of the troopers could ask her what was wrong she shot off like a rocket...almost literally.

The Jetpack on her back propelled her forward at blinding speeds. She flew over corpses and rubble alike, a pocket opening on her thigh and a lightsaber springing from it. A dark indigo blade ignited just as Diana met the crowd of Alien soldiers.

She sliced into them with cold precision, she severed limbs and broke bones, darting between the massive creatures with the aid of her jetpack until she stood side by side with a somewhat familiar face @[member="Hal Terrano"].

 

[Other Space Kaiden]

@[member="Antares Windu"] @[member="Vulpesen"]

The blue blade of plasma from Vulpesen nearly finished Krag off, but the Sith was just fast enough to duck his shoulder into the blade and deflect it with his Sith armor. The force of the hit was enough to send Krag stumbeling backwards and keep him from having enough time to strike back at the Jedi for he had basically stumbled right into the attack of Antares. The beast brought his Sith Sword down in a clock-wise motion that was enough to block the incoming blade, giving Krag a little more room to manuver his way around. He quickly spun to face Windu once again and called his old, black bladed lightsaber to his left hand from the back of his belt. Krag was no expert in two handed saber combat, but he was a skilled enough swordsman to convert his Djem So style into a adequte two handed form.

The lightsaber came down in towards Windu from above like a anvil while his Sith Sword continued its circular motion in an upward fashion in attempt to bisect the troublesome Jedi. Whether he struck a killing blow or not, Krag's blades would hit one another momentarily and he would spin in a semi-circle to once again face his second opponent. Taking a quick, deep breath the beast spat a quick ball of darkside manifested magma at Vulpesen before taking a large step toward him and doing a slight twirl. In the midset of his little spin, Krag brought his Sith Sword up above his head and dropped it at the end of the spin towards the head of the Knight.

 

[Antares]

Antares's shield came up to meet the Dark Lord's shield just as it was lifted up to come down upon his head. It seemed the Sith wanted to use his Sword as if it was a hammer, and Antares was the anvil. It seemed that was going to happen this day. The Sith Sword glanced off the ballistic shield, at the same moment that Antares stepped further into the guard of the Sith. When the Sith called it's black lightsaber, Antares knew what was going to happen, he didn't need the Force to see what was going to happen, it was pretty obvious, and he spun his lightsaber to meet the Sith's black lightsaber in a parry, to try and knock the Sith further off balance.

Since @[member="Darth Vulcanus"]'s guard was open, due to raising his Sith Sword above his head, and his hand had been coming around in a circular motion to meet his black lightsaber, there had been quite a bit of time that his guard had been open. And Antares, at least, the black blur, thanks to his robes, that was Antares had taken advantage and penetrated the Sith's guard before he could actually stop him realistically in his opinion.

But, after Antares had parried the Sith's black lightsaber, it had been knocked back, and Antares let the Force continue to flow through him to empower his body and strengthen his already powerful muscles, and he brought the lightsaber back around, curving his wrist so that the azure beam of his lightsaber could try and burn through Krag's midsection.

Whether it worked or not, Antares was already moving away from the Sith just in case there were any devastating counter-attacks, though he highly doubted it.

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen grinned as he watched the exchange. Using @[member="Antares Windu"]'s shielded offense, Vulpesen found it easy to use the sith lord's lack of balance to his advantage. As @[member="Darth Vulcanus"] made his attack on the shadow, Vulpesen made a quick roll to the side, coming up just as the overhead blow was coming down. What happened next would likely be called suicide, or insane considering Vulpesen's smaller size but it was that smaller size that made it possible. Using Krag's height to his advantage, Vulpesen made a quick jump forward, moving past the blade and under the enemies arm while his lightsaber separated with a quick twist. The gold and black pillars then went their way onto two different targets, one going for the exposed armpit, and the other making a a quick path towards the back of the knee, hoping to immobilize the large foe.

 

[Soeht]

With the Graug frigate destroyed, the Republic ships turned their attention toward the Invictus E Star Destroyer. However, it quickly became apparent that it was on a collision course with the Star Destroyer that Daella and the Captain were on.

“Intensify forward firepower!” yelled the Captain, “Evasive maneuvers!”

The Invictus E was bombarded by all of the expeditionary fleet’s weapons. Yet it was not enough to stop the Graug’s Star Destroyer before it scrapped against the bottom of Oreluos’s Star Destroyer due to the Republic fleet orienting their ships to face the Invictus E Star Destroyer. Klaxons blared as red lights flashed repeatedly. Emergency bulkheads slammed shut. The impact shook the bridge like a devastating groundquake. Oreluos gripped a control console tightly to avoid falling. Daella stumbled a bit yet still managed to stay standing. She righted herself the moment the shaking stopped.

The Republic starships that could continued to fire upon the Invictus E Star Destroyer. They concentrated their fire on important units - such as the engine and life support systems. Essentially, the Star Destroyer was rendered powerless and crumbling just after the collision and continued to drift aimlessly beyond Oreluos’s Star Destroyer.

The evacuation of Oreluos’s Star Destroyer would take a long time. Yet for those on the bridge, they were able to escape due to a few life ships being nearby. Daella and Oreluos were the last people to leave the bridge.

With the threat in space apparently defeated, the Republic Expeditionary Fleet returned its attention to the ground. Oreluos called the shots in the life ship as it made its way to a Watts-class starship dubbed the Ossus. He told the fleet to engage any Graug Hordes that could be found - especially those about to engage Republic forces.

With thousands upon thousands of Graug bunched up together, just a single Horde covered and immense amount of the surface. Keeping to the rule of not attacking anything within a quarter-mile of the nearest Republic soldier, the Republic ships in orbit once again reigned devastating fire upon the Graug Hordes from the back of the line toward where the frontline would be.

Once Daella and Oreluos made it to the Ossus, they were informed of the what happened during the initial bombardment. The Glycon Warbeasts in the back line were destroyed and many more Graug were now destroyed. The massive openings in the ground that the Graug poured out of ended up being sealed by the bombardment.

“This should allow for those in the slave yards to perform any rescues that they can,” commented Daella upon hearing what happened, “Provided something such as @[member="Darth Vulcanus"] doesn’t manage to reach them among the remaining Graug forces.”

 

[Talon Vosra]

@[member="Darth Vulcanus"]

Talon's battered form was tossed violently at the feet of a large Graug commander. He was yanked up to his knees. His exhausted body slumped backand his head rolled back to look up at the pale skinned beast. The creature looked bent down to look him in the face.

<You just made your last mistake Jedi> the ugly thing said.

"Your...breath!" Talon croaked, "it's so bad, right now."

A huge hand smashed into his face and split his lip as he crashed to the ground finally unconcious. Big grotesque hands lifted him by the neck and tossed him over an ugly shoulder as the hoard began moving away from the slave pits and towards their ships.

<Inform Lord Vulcanus we have a Jedi prisoner and we are moving to the ships for escape.> the huge commander ordered.

Graug began racing the other was dragging corpses along with them likely for food. They would escape and regroup and await Darth Vulcanus' orders.

The Jedi's two lightsabers now hung from the Graug's belt as well as the small tracking unit that went straight to the council members. Talon was still on a probationary period and had agreed to the council tracking his movemments and now they would be tracking his captors.

@[member="Daella Apparine"]

 

[Other Space Kaiden]

@Vulpesen @[member="Antares Windu"] @[member="Daella Apparine"] @[member="Diana Moridena"]

The attacks that came first were from Vulpesen, the man's speed and cunning were much sharper than Krag's. An attack came in for Vulcanus's armpit and the Graug was just fast enough to block it with an upwards swipe from his lightsaber, but he never saw the other saber coming. The next thing Krag knew he was falling to one knee in pain as the Jedi's saber cut through him. His leg went numb and the blade of plasma had cut a good half-way through the back of the Sith Lord's knee, making his leg useless in every basic way for the duration of the battle. The only upside to this situation was that the Jedi had brought himself in close to Krag and allowed the beast the quick upperhand. Krag brought his lightsaber across his a horizontal motion to try and severe Vulpesen's leg at the knee, expelling a pulse of fire out from his mouth to send the Jedi flying backward and off of the ledge. Even if the blow to the leg wasn't enough to immobilize him, the tumble off the cliff would surly hurt him or put him in the midsts of a Graug Horde and force him to pull out of the fight.

Krag then turned to attack Windu and that was when a searing pain shot through his stomach and up into his chest. The metal of Krag's belly sizziled at the azure blade slowy melted through it and into the Sith's stomach. Vulcanus didn't even need to think about it, he just dropped his lightsaber to the ground and latched onto Windu's saber arm with his left hand of claws. Krag's razor sharp claws were crushing into the Jedi's forearm like a vice and were working to hold his weight back to avoid getting completely impaled onto the blade. Vulcanus couldn't tell how far the blade had gone, but there had to be at least a quarter of the blade inside that was slowly burning away his stomach tissue. Krag struggled and he could feel himself weakening...the blade slowly forcing itself deeper and deeper into him and that's when Krag's primal rages took in and all that ran through his mind was killing the Jedi.

Without any regard for his own saftey, Krag quickly lifted his Sith Sword to stomach level with the Jedi and then quickly and violently pulled the Jedi foward. The Blade sunk to the hilt inside of the beast, missing Krag's spine by less than an inch. The pure force and strength used in Krag's attack would throw Windu's balance off and surly throw his shield arm too far to the side to avoid being impaled on Krag's blade. If and when the Jedi was impaled by the blade, it would forever leave a deep taint of the darkside on his soul thanks to the blades nexus of darkside energy. Even if it didn't kill him, which was a strong possibility as Krag was still clinging to life after his impaling, the Jedi would have to deal with the darkside slowly clawing at his mind.

The pain was enormous and the Sith could barely breath, but his primitive rage kept him alive. After his attack was through, Vulcanus released what energy he had left into one last flaming force push that would shoot the Jedi backwards (with or without his saber). The pain keeled the Sith over and he simply fell to his side in wheezing pain. It hurt so bad, why wasn't he strong enough? The glory of his people counted on his victories...he still had to prove that his people were more than just a pitiful race of hunters...he couldn't die not yet. Vulcanus focused on his breathing as the dark, cold grasp of death tried to close in on his soul. No, he wasn't going to die this way not by the hands of a filthy Jedi.

A deep breath, "No" Vulcanus whimpered as he forced himself back up this his hands and knees. He still couldn't feel his leg and it was impossible to put even part of his weight on it....left hand forward...right leg forward...right hand forward...Vulcanus crawled slowly towards the entrance of the hallows that lay before him. The corners of his vision slowly began to fade to black again and his vision tunneled. He began to feel so sleepy and for the first time in such a very long time, the Warlord of the Graug felt like falling into a bed and just sleeping forever. His head began to lower and his eyes began to close and then a deep breath, "Never!" Krag growled in defiance and picked up his pace towards the caverns. Slowly his massive form entered the cave, the darkness within a comfort. Turning around slowly, Vulcanus looked out upon the battlefield and the ungodly firestorm that rained from the heavens. The Graug would may have lost slaves today, but they would endure just as they always did and the Republic would never forget the ferocity that they witnessed this day.

Taking one last, strong breath Krag shot a molten ball of darkside energy into the cavern's ceiling and caused a avalanch of rocks that sent dust shooting down the caverns and out into the dry Sabarene air. The Graug four million Graug that were rushing towards the Republic would not slow and they would continue on, but as the entrances of the hollows were sealed one by one by the oribital bombardments of the Republic, the rest of the Graug species used their overwhelming numbers to foritfy positions within the caverns. The Republic would need their entire military if they wanted to pierce through the billions of Graug that were now building defenses to protect their home, but they would no longer have to worry about additonal reinforcements.

 

[Antares]

Antares was relentless. When @[member="Darth Vulcanus"] had turned around to face him, he had practically been impaled upon his blue lightsaber beam. He smelt the burning flesh from the Sith Graug, he felt the hopelessness the beast once known as Krag had felt while he was upon Antares's blade. And while he held the Graug's Sith Sword still in an awkward position with his shield, there was something preventing him from pushing the blade in further. And when he glanced down for a moment, he saw a wavering clawed hand that could only be characteristic of a Graug. "N-n-no." Were the only words that came out of his mouth throughout the whole ordeal while he tried to fight to push his blade deeper into his enemy. Neither of them would escape, rather the other one should die or remain alive. It just couldn't happen.

The dark skinned Jedi Knight was pulled forwards towards the Graug Sith. His feet had been unbalanced, but his shield always remained in positioned, falling back down to secure his body, only barely as the shield came around to smash the Sith Sword to the side just as it came into position. But it didn't leave him untouched, the blade cut deeply into his arm. Probably an inch deep. But he couldn't stop there, the Sith couldn't win, and then he was sent from the hill, again, the lightsaber being left behind as he was pulled down to the ground through gravity.

It was hot, he felt his robes burning a little bit, he felt his skin scorching slightly underneath the robes that remained or had disappeared to disappear as well. Thankfully, his robes were already black so any scorch marks wouldn't have had to have been fixed by finding new robes. But, he was still wounded, weakened against a Sith Master, he had been powerful, and when Antares's head rotated upon his neck to look at the wound in his shoulder and he saw the wound there he clenched his eyes shut. This was the time where his former Master's training would be the most useful. Kiskla Grayson had taught him how to self-heal, and Sochi Ru had only expanded upon that a while ago, upon how to heal yourself in the heat of battle. The lessons were still fresh in his mind. And yet...He felt the Sith's presence shrinking.

He was getting away. NO!

What remained of his Force power surged through him as a self-heal over his body, specifically his left hand, his weapon hand, the hand that had been clenched by the Sith, though it had been spared being burnt by the Dark Lord's previous scorching touches, and when he realized it, all thoughts were upon the wound within his shoulder. It was the only thing that needed to be healed and then he would be able to go after the Sith. He felt his body moving, his knees stated to bend, his muscles tensed at the commands, and then he was upon his feet. Dark eyes opened up to look at the hill that he had been on with @[member="Vulpesen"], and the Sith Lord, and he brought his comlink to his mouth after taking it from a pouch.

"Master Apparine." He said, contacting the Republic Flagship in space, that @[member="Daella Apparine"] was upon. Antares continued upwards on the hill, meanwhile the pieces of cauterized flesh were reaching out to each other to begin tying themselves together again and bringing his body back into it's previous shape. "Krag has escaped. I need an entrance into the hallows." He said just as the hallows closed from Krag's attempts. "I'm bringing him in." Antares said with finality to his voice. He wouldn't be stopped. He may not have been in the shape to bring in Krag, but Krag wasn't in the shape to resist him. Not anymore. He was going to be brought in, on that day.

 

[Vulpesen]

He had been a warrior for a long time now, and battle was second nature to the jedi. In battle, the jedi had developed certain forms to fight their enemies and at the current moment, Vulpesen's chosen form took over. He had chosen Makashi for its fluid movements and the ability to move from place to place, using the natural momentum of one's body. With this simple philosophy, Vulpesen made his move. With the crouched position, the Jedi quickly dropped onto his back, using his momentum to put him into a spinning skid as his lightsabers formed a defensive "X". The maneuver was kept fluid and graceful, seeming like something out of a dance rehearsal, using the practiced grace of a second form duelist... that is of course, until @[member="Darth Vulcanus"]' lightsaber slammed into him from the side. The dual blades had done their job of defense, but Vulpesen was quickly changed from graceful dancer to whirling top of Let's play, what did I eat this morning? To make maters worse, the jedi then found himself being shot by a large burst of fire which managed to singe any skin not covered by his robes in a quick rotisserie like fashion before launching him away, skidding and spinning across the ground as he worked to keep himself in his contained and controlled ball of black and golden light.

As he tumbled to the ground, Vulpesen changed his momentum into a spinning slash, using the horde to break his fall as he took down several of the creatures, much as he had when he was entering the battle field. Several... out of hundreds that now had a nice krispy jedi treat to take part of. Using a quick backwards roll, Vulpesen pushed the pain of his burns to the back of his mind as he glared at the creatures in front of him. He had but one chance at the moment, and he prayed he was listening. Ace, I need air support now! Sure enough, after a few quick slashes to defend himself, his telepathic communication was rewarded when his ship zipped by, pointing its nose down and beggining to strafe through the nearby graug. The piloting rig wasn't meant for combat and there was not doubt that the six inch tall wolf was currently dancing between the controls to keep the maneuver up, but it was working none the less... now to get back on that cliff. Preparing a quick leap, Vulpesen launched himself onto an opening ramp, making it up for a quick lift in time to see krag running away from the battle. "He's got one leg, go get him!" He called to @[member="Antares Windu"]. He would have been happy to do it himself, but considering the way he had just been roasted, a bit of his bacta salve might work well before he leaped back out of that ship.

 

[Jorga the Hutt]

Slave Yards
@[member="Kira Liadain"] @[member="Aika Kawakami"] @[member="A'donari Cinn"]

As the Graug legions of @[member="Darth Vulcanus"] -- millions upon millions of Graug -- streamed out of the tunnels, and @[member="Talon Vosra"] found himself dragged down into one of those tunnels, survival quickly became the Bard's only concern. Survival for himself and for the group of slaves they'd rescued, few as they were. His Czerka HeadBanger clicked empty, and he dropped the power cell while grabbing his comlink. "Brother, get over here!"

"I thought you didn't want-"

"Make a fence!"

The Jo'henry-class Rare Materials Mining Vessel fired its two plasma torches. A wall of eye-searing starfire cut the Graug legions off from the bulk of the slave yards' occupants. Slaves began to run en masse as the Graug on this side of the fire wall were cut down by Jedi.

 

[Adonari Cinn]

Slave Yards
@[member="Bard of the Hyperlanes"], @[member="Talon Vosra"], @[member="Kira Liadain"], @[member="Aika Kawakami"]

The boys weight on A'donari's back was taken into consideration. It never stopped the 6'8 Nautolan. Running forward with "Them. There!" In his ear every two seconds spurred him to work faster. The boy really was going to help every single one of the people he could. A'donari wished he could give the boy the ability but for now he would be the beacon flooding light into this world.

By the time he could think anything through he had reached the family. A'donari's massive frame hung low due to legs being spread apart and his free hand resting lightly on the ground. The graug before him bellowed a huge roar. It knew that reinforcements were coming. It thought it was safe. It was mistaken. Light saber dropped from A'donari's belt in a perfect guided connection. The Knight's right boot kicked forward slamming through the metal and sending it flipping end over end at his enemy. Right before it reach A'donari touched the force igniting and causing the skull of the creature to split in two. The family was freed "Do you see those women? Run!! Run your ass off! Stop thanking me! RUN!!!!!!" his thoughts were calculating his next steps.

Three more groups were rescued by the time that the Jedi, taking care of the army on their doorstep, was swallowed by the ground far away from him. A'donari's eyes narrowed while he watched and knew he couldn't help. That was not his necessity and the Jedi who was swallowed could handle himself. Trust was all he could do in the moment.

Eyes looked to the army approaching. Rushing to the aid of the needy brought him to the front lines when fire erupted onto the ground scrambling the masses. The Knight's blade licked through body after body of the creatures cut off from their numbers power source while the boy continued to rest on his back. It was fluent and pure. Each transition openly kept the green man and child safe from harm but F'ed their enemies hard.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Slave Yards
A Res'olnare dropped out of hyperspace into a flurry of fire and chaos. It didn't stop to take any notice of the fire fight around her. She knew where he was, where he would be, even without the force Mia could place Rel Connory at the heart of something stupid like taking a small team onto a planet whose race were bred to fight.

Worse, he left her behind.

The transport punched through atmosphere, a sonic boom rippling through the air as it did. "Ready?" Shouted Mia to the pilot, as she opened the doors to scan the surface beneath them, a gauntleted hand grasping the frame to keep herself in place as the win buffeted her. "I don't see him!"

She saw the wall of fire and the legions of graug beyond it second before the pilot did and let out an awed whistle. "Cut a line through those legions, and drop me off. Once I'm out, go dark until I need you." The ship slowed as it passed over the legions heads, lasre cannons clearing several scores of graug away from Rel's wall of flame as it swept low above the slave yards. Mia jumped, the flames licking her armour for a brief moment before she cleared them, force cushioning her fall she hit the ground and rolled, coming up on one knee, the vornskr announced her entrance well enough as it blew a hole in a graugs back.

Even with her face hidden behind her t-visor, Rel would know the look on her face. She came to her feet and spun, rounds spitting from the scattergun as she back towards him. "You come to a fight like this with a stun gun and you leave me behind? Where is the logic in that?" she said as she finally reached his side,snapping the scattergun open so she could reload. "You're supposed to be a genius."

@[member="Bard of the Hyperlanes"] @Talon Vorsa @[member="Kira Liadain"] @Akia Kawakami @A'donari Cinn

 

[Kira Talith]

Slave Yards
@Aika Kawakami @A'donari Cinn @Bard of the Hyperlanes @[member="Talon Vosra"] @[member="Mia Monroe"]


"TALON!" came Kira's cry, only it was too late. She'd taken a step forward as if to aide him, but he was completely swallowed up within seconds. However, there was little time to waste. She heard A'donni's voice, and her blue eyes went panning over to his direction, where she saw him point at her and a small group of slaves began heading into her direction.


Aika was doing the same, and while she wanted to follow after Talon, she knew that there was a higher objective. The ones who couldn't protect themselves. With this in mind, she sent a little prayer up for the Zelosian. He knew how to defend himself.


The massive fire wall from the Connery's ship allowed them the pause in the horde they needed to start herding the slaves over to a small staging area, where Kira began to wave her hands manically to the approaching Jedi ships sent to begin evacuations.


"Over here!!"

 

[Jorga the Hutt]

Slave Yards
@[member="Kira Liadain"] @[member="Aika Kawakami"] @A'donari Cinn @[member="Mia Monroe"]

The Czerka HeadBanger sent out stun shockwave after stun shockwave, drowning out Rel's response, whatever it might have been. It could have been safely assumed to involve elements of 'I can take care of myself' and 'didn't want you to have to see this' and things of that nature.

But as the Jedi ships swooped in and the slaves began to crowd into them, the necessity of the moment drove out personal concerns. Because that Graug army was huge, and was alraedy bringing heavy weapons to bear against the Jo'henry's shields. The big mining ship flinched, but the plasma torches kept drawing a firewall between the army and the slaves. The evac continued.