Episode IV: No Hope

[Placeholder 0143]

Location: Bisney Land, unknown world.


Stuff was like Thunderdome up in here. People had suddenly disappeared to the shadow realm, at least that was the way Norge looked at it. It was super obvious man.

IT WAS THE APOCALYPSE!

There needed to be a warlord in this type of satiation. Someone to keep things under control and take care of the ladies. Norge would be that ladykiller.

He summoned his friend Stalin with his mind powers, as Norge thought himself to be an unrivaled telepathic master, and strode to the highest balcony in the Bisney Land castle. Everyone was watching.

The god of the galaxy stood on top of a his lunch table clad in tight black leather. Large circles were cut in the middle to show off his amazing abs, and a zipper was pulled tight over his mouth.

He fixated the crowd with his most seductive stare, as that was what they did in Thunderdome, held his squeaky leatherbound arm high, and waved his stick of mutton toward the sky.

"THE GALAXY IS ENDING. I AM YOUR SAVIOR. BRING ME YOUR CHILDREN. I WILL CHRISTEN THEM. COME TO ME LADIES, WE WILL REPOPULATE THE GALAXY!"

And everyone continued to panic, as they should.

Norge settled on the edge of the castle, and took a big chunk out of his mutton. It was good to be king.

 

[Owain]

Immeria - [member="Felicity Mason"]

"Nope," he replied with a shrug. "Only got up a while ago, so you know, they're probably around doing whatever it is they do," the boy suggested, moving towards the kitchen. THe kiss had been nice, but caffeine would last longer...

 

[Darth Vazela]

| [member="Anja Aj'Rou"] |

"My name is Vilox Pazela. I have activated my locator signal." He turned to survey the bridge. Empty. Quiet. Eerie. The Dark Master rarely felt nervous, but this was a first. Somehow, in some way, the crew of the Libertas had been taken. He was in the middle of no where, in a region of space uncharted, with no crew to assist him.

He could be lost forever.

"Host Lord, I am lost. My crew... Has vanished." Vilox turned his gaze to the observational deck. He saw past the transparisteel to the void outside. What is this?. All he could say next was: "I need assistance." Then he fell silent.

 

[Felicity Mason]

'Billions appear to have gone missing following a serious of mysterious events. There appears to be no known cause, and the upductions seem to be very random. It is estimated that about half of Coruscants population has...'

The words of the news report this morning echoed in her head. Dread. She felt cold dread wash over her from head to toe.

"...[member="Owain"]," she shakily spoke up, "H-have you seen the reports on the holonet?"

She closed the distance between them, fear etched on every inch of her young face. She remembered. Months ago. A vision she had while she was out riding Hondo. People just... vanishing. She hadn't put the pieces together until just now. They didn;t always come true, but when they did....

 

[Jericho]

Naboo

It was another quiet night in the forests of Naboo, sounds of the creatures echoed through the trees as the Jedi master sat quietly. He was meditating and he floated above the edge of the river's bank with his eyes closed. Deep into meditation he transcended, and all ceased to exist; in this moment, every minute felt like a second. A sound he expected to hear, would never break him from this trance. After years and years of practice, he knew when there was something "unnatural" in his particular vicinity. Jericho usually would immediately come out of the trance.

He had been there for what had seemed to be hours before he was snapped out of his trance by a feeling, it was abrupt and quick but cause a huge sensation of chaos to follow. His eyes slowly opened and he placed his feet firmly into the ground. What was this feeling? There was so much change to the force it would indeed be deemed as very "unnatural". It was like there was a huge void of silence to be made only to be filled with anger and fear. Was this the ability of a new sith? One someone just messing with his senses? No. It felt too real, too painful. The master took a knee and wiped his face with the cool soothing water and made his way out of the forest.

The wind was chilling but the sun shone brightly. With the sun at its peak, people should be bustling around. However Jericho, didn't see a single soul in the village in the small village. Nor did he hear any signs of life but she saw signs of chaos. Everything was sparse, even the houses were in bad repair. It seemed like the village was plundered but there wasn't even a single body. Things shouldn't be this quiet, though it seemed bandits came by where seemed there was no signs of even a fight. He touched his weapons out of habit to make sure it was still there. Then he looked around at the buildings. Every city had a tavern.... people went to taverns. Spotting it, he walked in and paused. Still no one. He looked around for a moment and scanned the area with one of his tools. Running one of his fingers over a table, Jericho listened. But again he heard nothing but the creaking of the floor under his feet.

This was like a repeat of how he found one of his padawans, but back then he knew what he was up against. He let out a sigh and tapped on to his comm-link. "This is Master Jericho, any Sanctum members nearby?" The sounds were muffled by static, he could get a clear read on it. So he switched his comm-link the the republic channel. "This is Master Jericho of the Levantine Sanctum. Any nearby republic units or Jedi please respond, this is urgent." Again, all he could hear was static but the signal was strong on the channel seeing as he was in republic territory. Maybe if he reached a bigger village or city there might be more people around to speak about this.

After hours of lone travel he came across a large city in flames, enhancing his hear with the force he heard screams and of battle. People were rioting, bandits were plundering, the law enforcement were trying to keep what order was left. Others, many others were just frightened and confused. He clicked on his comm-link once more and turned it to the republic channel. "This is Master Jericho, any nearby republic units or Jedi, please come in there is a mass riot and bandits are plundering a city. Nabooian Forces are being overwhelmed! I am moving to assist." He let out a sigh and put out an SOS beacon near his coordinates in hope that someone responds. Jericho adjusted his battle breathing mask and took out his double bladed sabers. The light of orange and purple illuminated the darkness around him as he made his charge to the city.

 

[Darth Ferus]

[member="Jentara Vel"]

Location: Space

It wasn't long for the red man before someone answered. A blip appeared on one of the many screens, a simple message. Opening it, he would find it from someone he did not expect. Or at least, someone's servent he did not expect. But it was something. On his way back to his room, he would call out to the Droid pilot he had flying this contraption.

"Set a course and send a response. We gotta figure all this out." With that, Krest would get himself dressed in his usual armor. He was going to have to deal with Circe once more.

Message :// Coming. Krest.

 

[Boethiah]

Anja listened carefully to the message.

"We have a lock, Your Worship.", the officer said as he figured Vilox's location.

"Good. We'll meet him.", she needed all the help she could get. Some of her advisors were confused by that fact; why leave Gulamendis? Why not take it back whilst the fleet was in orbit?

"All ships, prepare jump.", the order was given to the fleet.

Within moments the entire fleet left the space above Gulamendis; heading for their target. Anja and her flagship, however, intended to make a detour...

After some time in jump Order's End exited hyperspace where [member="Vilox Pazela"] was.

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

Zandra didn;t waste time. The kids weren't here, neither was Cal. She could feel it in her gut. Lady luck spoke to her. They'd been taken. Somewhere. Just like the others. Lady Luck had been with her last night. She was safe. She'd been lucky.
...Lucky. Yeah right.

After dressing her now fractured fist, she jumped on the speederbike and took off without a word. The clan would be fine without the Echani wife of their chief around. They were good folks. They'd live. And Zandra would find out what in the stars had happened to their people.

"And I will come back with you, Cal, Rawnie, Corrin..."



The cantina was as good as any place to stop, but Zandra was here for a specific reason. She'd gotten information, word that a certain friend of her husbands was around here. One of the few left. She stormed in, bright blue eyes trained ahead. Nobody else mattered. She had her eyes on a certain Mando

"Strider!"

 

[Darth Kentarch]

The cloaked figure looked out across Riserva City of the Paecian Empire. The army was a shattered mess, armored vehicles had taken to the streets to enforce order. Yet many of the soldiers had vanished into the darkness and few were left to take ranks against the unrest that filled the streets. Arson, looting, vandalism, and worst of all rioting had swept through the metropolis like a virus in an old man's veins. The Sith Lord turned away from balcony view of the city to face one of the few intelligence agents who had reported for duty since the crisis began. "Sir over half the population is unaccounted for. I've tried hailing the other heads of the empire, so far none have responded." The agent said. Kentarch turned and raised his hand for the man to stop speaking.

"[member="Darth Metus"] is gone, I expect most of the other heads are gone as well. The first priority is to secure the Empress and ensure her safety." Kentarch stated. Walking off the balcony and into a large chamber several officers and government agents worked with all haste to establish communications and reign in order among the various governmental departments. The Sith Lord's gaze shifted to one of the senior officers. "Have we established contact with any other of the Heads of State?" Kentarch asked. The senior officer shook his head. "No sir. We have nothing on their status." The officer replied. Darth Kentarch took a long pause as if he was making a difficult decision, then he finally looked to a communication officer and spoke "Make a public service announcement declaring civil defense and establish a curfew. Contact all military branches as well every government branch that Director General is temporarily the acting head of the Empire until the other heads of state are accounted for and the Empress is secure." Kentarch ordered. Several men hesitated and looked to the Sith Lord with unsure looks. "DO IT!" Kentarch shouted, and the men quickly went back to work.


The Sith Lord made his way to the bottom floor of the Intelligence building and made his way out onto the street. As soon as he stepped through the secure blast doors of the building he was almost overcome by massive riot. "I need a shuttle prepared for me to get to the castle!" Kentarch shouted over the screams of and cries of the riots to one of the Blackout Agents. Fires had sprouted from the ground and nearby buildings, roaring flames and smoke climbed towards the sky. Speeders had been flipped over and set ablaze, windows and doors of storefronts had been smashed open as looters took advantage of the lack of order. Several feet in front of him a line of black armored military police maintained a line with metal riot shields holding back the tidal of people trying to claw their way into the Empire's intelligence building. Kentarch sometimes had to sidestep a piece of trash or debris that the rioters lobbed over line of military police. In the chaos Kentarch waited patiently for the shuttle, and for first even hoped to the Immortal Gods of the Sith it would come.

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

A Niathal-class shuttle fell out of Hyperspace and made its way to Mandalore's surface, passing the seemingly frozen ships on its way. What had happened to his home? Was this what five years had done to Mandalore, or was this recent? The look on Mordecai's face told him he didn't have the answer either. As the shuttle broke atmosphere and headed towards Keldabe he could see that this was new. Something had attacked them, but what or who?

The Niathal-class landed at the starport and emerged was Gilamar Skirata and Mordecai Tal'kyr. Both utterly confused they headed in the one place Gil knew people would congregate.

The Oyu'baat.

 

[Dara Gola]

Naboo

Chaos... That's what Nyrrea was witnessing. There were fires every where. She was holed up in an old textile shop, the windows long since broken and the merchandise long gone.


Her comm crackled slightly *This ... Jericho of the ....units or....please respond, this is urgent.*

the static was so bad she could only make out a couple of words. Cursing to herself, she stood and flipped the toggle to send.

"Copy Jericho.. I can read you"

She adjusted her equipment quickly, pulling out he blaster and checking the charge on it, Sliding her hand down the length of her hilt, letting the moisture from her hand coat the bantha leather, giving her a stronger grip should she need it. She lets out a deep sigh closes her eyes, forcing herself to concentrate on the moment at hand, letting everything flow out of her. The shock to the force was still a very present thing.

Her lack of knowledge and training was hurting her now but she didn't ever want to be used again.

She would do things her way... the only way that's kept her alive so far.





[member="Jericho"]

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

Gherron woke up to the sound of a very frantic droid, whirring and beeping like no tomorrow. "What the hell... Sparky! What's with you, man? I'm trying to get some sleep here!" He took a second to process what the droid was saying. He was still a bit rusty in binary, but he got the general message. "Right. And I'm Obi-Wan. Give me a break, Sparks." Getting up from his bed, he yawned softly and pushed the astromech away. Taking a few minutes to slip into his clothes, he walked out into the main corridor of his ship. Sun was nowhere to be found, but that was normal. She was probably on some backwater planet having one hell of a time. "Rael, get out here. We're almost at Crystalsong." Silence. "Rael!" Sighing to himself, he walked to the kaleesh's quarters, opening the door. Apparently the droid wasn't telling stories, because the other Jedi's room was empty. All of his gear was gone, too. "Rael! Stop playing around man, this isn't a game!" Had the alien discovered a larger sense of humor overnight? Gherron searched every room, twice, three times. Nothing. This wasn't good... Briskly walking to the ship's controls, he dialed a friend's comm info, and waited for pickup. Maybe he'd know something... "Dammit Vulps, pick up already."

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Draich]

Corellia

There's an old Corellian proverb: "The bigger the galaxy, the sweeter the homecoming." Today, those words did not hold true.

Draich was permitted to land unmolested but even before touching down on his home world he could hear the strain in the air traffic controllers voice. A sorrow. It was tangible and palpable. He could feel the weight of despair before he had set foot out of his ship.

Draich walked the streets of his old neighborhood. Hands shoved in his pockets, his collar pulled up tight around his neck. Corellia herself seemed to be in mourning, her skies where a somber dark grey and a gentle rain was falling.

She weeps for those who where taken from her. Draich couldn't help be feel melancholy. It weighed heavy on his soul though no one he knew had vanished. He lit a cigarette and cupped it in his left hand, attempting to protect it from Corellias tears.

He came upon a woman sobbing quietly, clutching a piece of cloth. An infants swaddle. She grasped the fabric tightly, her knuckles as white as her face. Her sobbing intensified and she, like the planet, cried her eyes out for her lost child. Draichs heart sank.

Draich had seen children killed in war. He had seen children pierced by blaster fire and shrapnel or turned into a sticky mist from explosives. Some days it had been his side that caused the carnage, other days the enemy. Those where the days that shook his resolve, the days that haunted his dreams. He never forgot them. He had seen first hand the grief the families felt and felt it himself. Draich rarely cried, but those are the days he sobbed uncontrollably when no one was around. Even to this day it would overwhelm him and bring him to a knee. Draich knew he would burn in hell for some of the things he had done and welcomed it. It was no less than he deserved. But not today.

War was hell. And now the whole galaxy knew that hell.

Draich shut his eyes tightly and left the woman to her mourning. There was nothing he could say or do to comfort her. Her grief was her world now. He pushed on, feeling his heart sink to depths they had not been to in a long time.

The galaxy is a cruel place. To damned cruel.

A voice pierced the silence of the rain like a knife. Hard, charismatic and full of grief. A crowd had gathered listening to him speak.

"They can not give us answers. For they are ignorant to the truth my brothers. I tell you this, these are the final days. But do not be sad my brothers, no. Our beloved departed have gone to a better place, embraced by The Lord of Enlightenment. He has taken our loved ones to his bosom and he will hold them safe there till we meet again with them in the next life." The man was clad in black. He pace like a man possessed in front of his crowd and spoke with a righteous fire. "The Force? The Jedi are as ignorant to this phenomena as we are. They can not give us answers because they seek a FALSE truth. Our government? There is no science that can measure and define his will. They will lie to keep us in line, to maintain the status quou. But my lord can give you the answers you crave. He can give you the answers you so desire. Why....? Why has this happened to us. The truth is, it is His mercy. As I said before, these are the final days. These are the days of tribulation. Only us, whom He has deemed the strongest remain. We are the chosen, who will carry his message into the galaxy. And that message is this. He is punishing us. Yes brothers, punishing us! It is through our decadence that evil has rooted itself in our government and through out the galaxy. We have allowed evil to fester and spread like a cancer. And it is us who will cut this cancer out of the galaxy. We are his instrument in this Holy War. To arms my brothers! It is our duty, no our sacred rite! We will avenge our beloved who where taken from us because of the evil in the galaxy. We must purge the unbeliever! We must purge every facet of our society and remake it according to his will!"

The crowd surged with rage. They needed something to believe in, and they had found it. However misguided it was. They needed a Shepard and where willing to look to anything for answers. A wolf in seeps clothing, calling the rest of the sheep to the slaughter.

A chill ran up Draichs spine. Chit was about to hit the fan.

 

[Strider Garon]

Location: Mandalore; Keldabe city--- Oyu'baat Cantina
Allies: [member="Gilamar Skirata"] [member="Zandra Tal'verda"] [member="Davin Skirata"] [member="Anastasia Rade"] [member="Preliat Mantis"]
Objective; Regroup, secure Mandalore, investigate.

Hadn't taking Strider long to suit up in his beskar'gam and make his way down to the main lobby of the Oyu'baat. The Cantina itself was filled with many mandalorians and a crowd forming outside. All of them looking for answers and all looking at Strider Garon as he cautiously made the steps down, his gold cloak signifying he was a field marshal to those that did not know him from sight. And from a quick glance and the general feel of the place it seemed he was the ranking douche within this panicked herd.

"I have no answers for you folks at this moment. But before we investigate we need to make sure those that are still here are safe. I want the military and stage 4 alert and prepped for enemy contact. The rest of you form search parties and go grid to grid searching the entire area. There may be those in need of aid and possible clues to the where about the missing are"

Before Strider could continue Zandra stepped into the bar hailing for his direct attention. It was plain obvious that she was in distress and her walking in absent of children and hubby made it clear on why. Strider strode across the room to match her half way "All yours been taken?" Strider wanted to make full certain "I am so sorry cyar'ika!"

 

[The Red of Sinner]

Romeo continued to watch the Five Circles come apart as the galaxy was coming to what was probably an end. Toligon watched by as the Holonet broadcast-ed all sort of non-sense. "What are we going to do?" She asked, a tear coming down from her eye. Romeo shook his head, not wanting to speak false words. "I dont know...My daughter is gone...she will not answer me, I can only assume she has been 'raptured' with the rest..." He turned to look at her. "Calm down, breath. Keep your head clear."
He turned to pick up a comlink. He only hoped this would be good news.
[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]
"Patricia? Are you there?"

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

The Echani glared ahead. Sorry? Sorry!? She closed the distance, flipping a table in her way over with her uninjured hand.

"Don' tell me yer sorry!" she snarled, "Don' tell me ya don' know what this is!"
She banged her other fist against a beam where she stopped.

"My kids are gone! Cal's gone! Half the damn clan is gone! Over night, and nobody seems to have a clue what happened! I ain't just gunna take 'sorry fer yer loss', bow my head n' cry. I'm gunna go get answers! You were Cal's friend. Yer gunna help me, damn it!"

She didn't have time to just sit and talk it out. Every second wasted was a second her entire family was at risk. She was going to get them back. All of them, or there would be hell to pay.

[member="Strider Garon"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Romeo Sin"]

Patricia was sitting under her desk at the dragon palace casino on antecedent. She was clutching her very pregnant belly that looked to be about nine months or so and she was getting ready to pop any day now. Outside people were rioting in the streets of antecedent from he lack of police or really anyone to tell them not to. The Dragon place casino had it's shields up and it was keeping the rioters at bay from attacking and looting the place. She shot a message to [member="Cryax Bane"] giving him a run down of the riots outdoors. And when that was done she glanced around and held her extended belly silently crying in fear for her child. But as all hope seemed lost her logger rang and it was Romeo's ring tone. She quickly answered it and put the device up to her mouth.

"Romeo! Baby I'm so scared! I don't know what to do!" Her voice sounded panicked and rapid as she fumbled with her communicator. She took a few deep breaths and let out a soft cry to her love.

"I'm on Antecedent and the baby is going to come soon. I'm scared romeo."

 

[The Red of Sinner]

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

Romeo stood up quickly, pulling Toligon up with him, "Get the Ryuk ready, and the Drakons that are left, we are leaving Celty." He looked back at his com. "We're coming now Patricia, its going to be a few days, but we are coming. What's happening? Talk to me." He said in trying to calm her down, and rushing to the door, Toligon right behind him, commanding orders. "Sir, all Drakons are accounted for, Ryuk is being prepped." She said knowing Romeo would hear her.
Dashing through the hallways of the Keep, Romeo continued to talk. "It's going to be okay Patricia, I promise, it's going to be okay." His mind was rushing with what to do, and he wasnt going to be there for her to give birth, he knew this already. His rage began to build up, but quickly he pushed it away, it wasnt the time to be angry. "Just talk to me. Ignore what's happening, and talk to me." He was already assuming the planet of the Ravens was in riots, and thus had to do everything he could to get there quickly.

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

Location: Keldabe-Mandalore
Objective: Regroup, figure this out
Allies: [member="Preliat Mantis"] [member="Strider Garon"] [member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

The Oyu'baat was in an uproar after Zandra's outburst. Tears and crying and shouting filled the room and spilled outside onto the streets where burning speeders and the smell of death still clung to the air. Gilamar moved through the crowds, the one still picking through the wreck to find loved ones that were long gone. He knew that once things settled his people would be fine, but until then, this loss of family would sting. Family was one of the most important, if not the most important thing to a Mandalorian, and while death was accepted as fact...These loved ones were not killed.

They were just simply gone.

"Calm yourselves vode," an impossibly familiar voice rang out over the shouting. Gasps and murmurs came from outside the cantina as Gilamar made his way through the sea of people. The group parted as a ghost made his way to the front of the room. Passing Zandra he laid a gentle hand on her right shoulder. "I am truly sorry for your loss." He turned to face the others now. "We are all sorry for each other's losses yet it is hard to see reason when everyone you know and love has gone." At least, that's what he assumed was happening. Everyone he knew...so far was still here.

"But if we are to find what has happened to our beloved, then we need to make still our minds for just a moment so that we may stop this chaos that plagues our world right now." Gilamar looked up at Strider and gave him a smile, "How are you old friend?"

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

The Echani jerked her shoulder away as this stranger came along and tried to touch her. Nobody. NOBODY touched her without her permission. She wanted to punch him out right then and there. Then he started talking, trying to be the voice of reason. Reason! This uppity son of a sarlaac thought he the right to ask her to be calm!? Thought he knew what she was going through? He had no idea what she was before Cal and the kids. He didn't know what she still would be if not for him!

"We don' need to be standin' around here talkin' about the weather!" she snarled, "We need to be out there right now, searching for our people!"

She pointed to the Cantina door, anger etched on every freckle on her face. Some were nodding in agreement with her, but she knew echani prejudice was still something she had to worry about. Some would disagree simply on principal. Fine.

"I don't know about you, Strider, but I ain't sittin' 'round here waitin' fer whatever took 'em to have a change of heart."

If they expected her to break down and cry for her poor little babies, they would be sorely mistaken. Zandra wasn't one for tears. They did nothing but waste time and waste energy. And she didn't have either to spare now.

[member="Gilamar Skirata"] [member="Strider Garon"]