[First Order]: Dark Fantasy

[Asharad Graush]

There was a new addition to the White Wolves Regiment, that being the joining of the Gundark Gunners Unit, or Company, A'sharad didn't really care. Why would he? They were just more stormtroopers under his command. The only difference? They now represented the White Wolves. Even if they were still a ragtag band of the worst of the worst put together, with the rest of the White Wolves surrounding them, surely something would rub off on them.

A'sharad had no doubt about it.

So he had invited the Lieutenant [member="Rexus Wenck"] to come with him to Valhalla. A planet that held phrik mines. On a regular day, they wouldn't normally go to the planet, it'd merely be transported to Yalara for the manufacturing, but something was calling to the Sith High Colonel. So he had requested that the Lieutenant and some of his best join him on that day. Together, they'd escort the Phrik Ore back to Yalara and the engineers would begin work on the new gauntlets that A'sharad had drawn up and designed.

The shuttle they were taking down to the landing pad would wait for them there while the phrik was loaded onto the ship. When they were done, they'd go back up into orbit, board the Wolf's Maw, and then jump into hyperspace back to the White Wolves Headquarters. Simple and quick. Besides, who would do something foolish with one of the largest Star Destroyers in the Galaxy orbiting overhead?

Together, A'sharad, Rexus Wenck, and some dozen or so members of the White Wolves and the Gundark Gunners sat in the compartment. Some spoke, others didn't, A'sharad's eyes remained closed as he focused. He cleared his mind, pushing any and all distracting thoughts and sounds from his mind. They were breaking atmosphere at that point, it'd only be a few more minutes before they got to where they needed to be. For the most part, as far as he was concerned, it was silent, only the ship making sounds as heat was dissipated across the shuttle's shields.

 

[Rexus Wenck]

Rexus twiddled his thumbs, waiting for the whole ordeal to stop. He always felt a level of anxiousness when it came to flying into orbit. However the tension always dissapated after a little bit. The lieutenant looked around the shuttle, and watched his own men chuckle and joke with the White Wolves. "So sir," he began "What, do you do for fun?" he asked.

For Rexus, the colonel who'd been part of his life for so long was an enigma. He looked constantly constipated, and appeared to have some kind of lightsaber. Rexus was curious as to what he was, he'd assumed the Sith had joined the Knights of Ren, and wondered why this guy chose the army. Maybe there was some kind of code of celibacy. Rexus knew that'd be deal breaker if he had to abstain.

[member="Asharad Graush"]

 

[Asharad Graush]

And there goes the silence.

A'sharad's eyes opened up a moment later to regard [member="Rexus Wenck"] with a burning gaze. He said nothing at first as his orbs dropped down to his feet to investigate his companion's appearance. Slowly, he looked back up to the Lieutenant, and he opened up his mouth to warn him of the impending storm of lightning that he was going to cast upon him, but then he thought better of it and closed his mouth. Soon after, he opened his mouth again to speak. This time, real words actually came out.

"Killing," he said casually. Not that he did it as often as he did when he was an Acolyte for the One Sith. Most acolytes wished to fight each other, to kill their brothers and sisters in the One Sith, breaking the rules that had held them together for so long before their foolish leaders had led a coup and killed their Dark Lord.

Then they created a Dark Council.

Stupid.

The shuttle touched down on the ground and A'sharad rose up to his feet. Soon after, the ramp was opening towards the back of the transport.

 

[Rexus Wenck]

"Killing? Really?" Rexus asked, "That's a bit morbid all that," he stood up and stretched a little, "So there's no drinking? Clubbing or shagging? Just killing?" he asked, perhaps he did it in a way to satisfy himself? Rexus had read tabloids all the time, and knew there were some serial killers who'd murder their victims in erotic ways. Usually Rexus would deride such behaviour, but if the sensual deaths of others made the colonel the proficient fighter and leader he'd become, who was he to argue if he snuffed out some whores? "So, does it get you off?" he asked, "Killing that is?"

The Gundark Gunners meandered out of the shuttle, and followed the duo, before fanning out and securing the area, holding their blasters close. Who knew what threat could come from the surrounding area.

[member="Asharad Graush"]

 

[Asharad Graush]

"Killing is morbid?" The Sith shot a look at the stormtrooper. He looked the man who literally existed for killing, and in the same moment replayed his words of saying killing was morbid. A brow raised, a brow of curiosity. And then he continued on talking about it. That was when he had started to make it into something it wasn't. "You were trained to kill. Remember that," he suggested as they descended from the ramp.

Outside, all seemed well. There was a foreman approaching from one of the nearby structures, but A'sharad decided that he was going to continue giving an answer.

"No." He said, evidently annoyed. "I'm Sith, not psychotic." Though some would think that it was one in the same.

"Ask me a question like that again, and you'll wish you were stillborn." All the while, he didn't even do him the honour of looking at him. Just thrown into the wind to which it carried the words behind him and likely to the following stormtrooper.

[member="Rexus Wenck"]

 

[Rexus Wenck]

"From what I've seen boss, you take unusual pleasure in watching people die," The lieutenant replied, "And maybe I do to, but that's the adrenaline coming along." The stormtrooper said, before listening to him, "Aren't all you Sith just psychotic?" he asked, "I mean, I don't mean to cause any offence, but as far as I'm concerned, you bunch murder and pillage to your black guts' content."

He followed the colonel closely behind, "And that's all fine and good, but the fact remains that you're just like the sick snuff tape makers. You kill for no other reason than to get a kick. Only for you Sith, that kick comes in the form of power."

[member="Asharad Graush"]

 

[Asharad Graush]

A'sharad was slowing was [member="Rexus Wenck"] spoke. Close, he was to just turning around and snapping his neck, but he restrained himself. Instead, when the foreman came up to them, A'sharad walked past him, and when the stormtroopers followed, the foreman stood there confused before hurrying after the longer strides of him.

"The phrik is being loaded into the crates now, Sir," the head foreman was trying to say. When they entered the cave, the walls were lit with artificial bulbs, contained in their transparent casings. He could sense all of the miners somewhere below, but instead of heading immediately down the shaft, they were sidetracked into a side compartment, this time only A'sharad and Rexus came, those who appeared to have leadership positions in the unit.

It was an observation room, showing many different images within the mining complex. The mining droid storage, security emplacements, the miners' working, a lot of stuff. A'sharad ignored most of it.

"Your crates are on the way up the cargo lift now,"

"Good," the Colonel said. "One shuttle is enough?"

On the sensors there were multiple blips that A'sharad didn't notice, and no one else seemed to either, and then he turned to leave.

"Yes, Sir," the man said as he looked up to the armoured Sith Colonel. To which, A'sharad responded with a nod before he exited the surveillance room and walked towards the exit of the mine. A short trip, but he couldn't stand staying on Yalara anymore, the home of the White Wolves was easily one of the hotter planets in First Order Space, and by far one of the more boring ones. He was born to be a conqueror, not a Governor. His tongue slipped to the front of his teeth and brushed over the smooth surface.

"There is no pleasure when I kill, Lieutenant Wenck." At that, he turned his head to look upon the man. "I feel nothing when I take a life. There is no reason to."

 

[Rexus Wenck]

Rexus followed the colonel into the mine, and looked around at the crates of phrik and the whole mining operation. It was pretty funny, well, to him at least, that less than a hundred meters from the shuttle sat a huge mining operation. The lieutenant followed the colonel again as he walked out of the shuttle. "So, why kill for a hobby then, if it doesn't mean jack to you?" he asked, looking around, his eyes adjusting back to surface. "This whole debate we've been having here has been all around you, and your whole sort of, reply to my question. And now you're gonna tell me that the one thing you put forward as something you do for fun means nothing to you?" he paused, "Surely there's a girl out there for you. One who shares your lack of compassion and empathy."

[member="Asharad Graush"]

 

[Asharad Graush]

[member="Rexus Wenck"]

"I was born to do it," the Colonel said as if he were talking about something as normal as cooking. Though, how could he be faulted? He came into existence before the war with the Galactic Republic. His father was a Sith Pureblood, a species that fought much amongst themselves. Power struggles, for fun, it didn't matter. Transitions of power came through killing the ruling Sith Lord. When the One Sith had come, his father had brought him and his family to Prakith, and they worked underneath the nose of the Galactic Republic, until the time for war came.

A'sharad grew up in a time of war. Compassion? Regret? A conscious? Those were things that were beaten out of him if they could even claim to have a place in him to begin with. Even as a child he had killed his peers. He was born to do it. His Father, Darth Acarus had believed the One Sith would last much longer than they would've, that his own son wouldn't have killed him, but he had been wrong. Twice. Trained, he had been for killing, assassinations, combat, but here he was, leading forces in the First Order. "There is no debate," he said, with a flick of a wrist he would've tossed Rexus some metres away from him, head over heels probably. He didn't even look at him.

Lucky he didn't receive a lightsabre ripping through him.

"Killing by itself is boring." He decided to elaborate. "One day, you will understand what I mean," he said as the crates came towards them, pushed by some of the stormtroopers that had come with them, others by miners that sought an easy break from the work and toil below.

 

[Rexus Wenck]

"I disagree, I think there is debate to be had sir," He said, moving and reliveing a pair of miners of their work, "Surely, there's something to your life more than killing." He said, "I mean, how can that be the sole purpose of your existence?" Rexus realised he came at this from the position of a stormtrooper. Someone always ready to fight in the glory of Supreme Leader, someone who essentially worked as cannon fodder for the First Orders cause. But at least for him, there was always something more. There was drinking, shagging, gambling, drinking and drinking socially. It was at this moment, that Rexus realised, his commanding officer was probably the saddest man in the Galaxy.

[member="Asharad Graush"]

 

[Asharad Graush]

A'sharad turned to [member="Rexus Wenck"] when he decided to speak again. His first words, were heard, but the rest were effectively cut short as his biting tone split them in half as if he were splitting the earth itself.

"Shut. Up."

Naturally, he didn't need to explain the fact that he was his commanding officer and that he needed to obey. Chain of Command and all that.

The sound of speeder bikes, and a shuttle came close. A'sharad looked about and then they were descending upon the group of stormtroopers. The more experienced of the White Wolves reacted, arming blasters and pointing upwards at the ship and speeders. The speeders had grappling hooks that fired at the crates and pulled them up and away from the troopers. Most of them missed, but they were still going through the process of being raided.

A'sharad dealt with one himself by merely force crushing an engine and it crashed to the ground, some distance away and exploded in a fiery ball of fire.

 

[Rexus Wenck]

"Hold together boys, and blast 'em!" Rexus commanded, as his troopers raised their arms, and opened fire upon the enemy. Rexus personally felled one of the riders who landed off of his bike with a sickening thud. The stormtrooper cheered, the bike was in tact, "Sir, you want me to pursue them?" he asked, "Or would you rather take this one for yourself?" He asked, all the speeders had taken off into the distance, and the shuttle was taking heavy damage, "If that thing goes down, take cover, understood?"

[member="Asharad Graush"]

 

[Asharad Graush]

A'sharad shook his head. Besides a sudden attack on the group, not much else had happened. They still had the phrik and their mission was to continue escorting it to the shuttle and off of the planet. Thankfully, the shuttle was merely a few metres away, a handful of stormtroopers standing at the opened ramp covering the group pushing the crates of phrik.

"Load the Phrik," he ordered. The speeder bikes that ha swept in to attack them were pulling away at that point. Several of the speeder bikes had been felled along with their riders. The burning up shuttle was turning and flying off to some distant treeline. "They're fleeing," he said, and just before he turned around to head off, he stopped to wave a hand at one of the bodies, "Bring one of the bodies. We'll find out where they're from," he said before he finished the short trek back to the shuttle and waited for the rest of the stormtroopers.

[member="Rexus Wenck"]

 

[Rexus Wenck]

Rexus dismounted, and nodded. "Come on lads, lets mover her in," He commanded, two of his troopers began to drag one of the raiders bodies while the others walked in.

"He's a heavy one, must 'ave a lot of armour!" One grunted.

"Nah, he's just fat." The other replied with a chuckle.

"Cut the chatter lads," Rexus warned with a smile behind his helmet, as others hauled the phrik crates into the shuttle, "Have any bets 'bout who they were boss?"

[member="Asharad Graush"]

 

[Asharad Graush]

A'sharad closed the ramp of the shuttle once the mined crates of phrik had been stored in the cargo bay. Once that was done, the shuttle was lifting from the ground thanks to its repulsorlifts, and it was taking off as if nothing had happened. A'sharad was no cleanup crew, so the wreckage of speeder bikes and random bodies were scattered about. They had a schedule that only their Sith Colonel stored mentally, was meaning to stand by.

"No," he said, preferring to cut off the entire avenue of conversation. Of course he had his own theories as to who they were. Probably rebels from past operations wanting to get revenge, probably got their hands on information from some loose tongued stormtrooper from the local garrison. Even if the White Wolves weren't, other stormtrooper units, especially those of the Army and the garrisons weren't made of the same stuff as the face of the Stormtrooper Corps.

"We'll have an answer by the time we get back to Yalara."

[member="Rexus Wenck"]

 

[Rexus Wenck]

"Right, keep hauling this phrikin' poodoo." Rexus commanded, walking up the ramp to sit down at the far end of the shuttle. He watched as teams brought aboard the crates of phrik, locking them down and magnetically sealing them to the shuttles floor. The duo bringing the heavy renegade aboard, and handcuffed the corpse to an arm rest.

"Corpse stored and ready for you bossman." One of the troopers proudly announced to [member="Asharad Graush"], "Want us to search the karker?"

"Search the body?" The other trooper replied, physically distancing himself from his friend, "You're disgusting."

 

[Asharad Graush]

A'sharad shot a look over his shoulder as the troopers bantered back and forth. He let them talk, that is, until he raised a hand to wave off further comments.

"Search the body," he ordered. They wore gloves, or rather gauntlets, if the body had anything capable of being caught, they were safe from it. Besides, it wasn't as if he were ordering them to fondle the body, merely to go through the pockets of the clothes, weapons, try and find out where they were from. Doubtful, was he that the Medical Centre on the Wolf's Maw would do much other than say they were dead.

Plus, if they searched the body now, it would hurry up the investigation, and perhaps they'd already have an idea of where to go after reverting to realspace.

At that point, the shuttle carrying the phrik was exiting the atmosphere, and from viewports they were able to see the Resurgent's hangar bay opening in wait.

[member="Rexus Wenck"]

 

[Rexus Wenck]

"Look what you've gotten us doing now," the disgusted trooper muttered, "Searching a karkin' body. Do I look like a gravedigger to you?"

"'Course not, but I'm just saying, 'ere could be valubles." the other replied with a greedy chuckle.

Rexus shook his head, and sat where he had been before, stretching a little. He watched the other troopers relax a little, the shuttle back after a mission was always the best time to chill out. "You know what sir?" Rexus said, "I think we should go out drinking," he said, "When we're next cycled onto Avalonia, I should take you to this bar, serves the best Corellian ale you've ever tasted."

In the background the troopers stripped their prize till the body was naked. There was an audible chuckle as the two began to classify the effects. "Oi colonel, we 'ave somethin' you should see!"

[member="Asharad Graush"]

 

[Asharad Graush]

A'sharad glanced over his shoulder when his attention was then pulled back towards the group. This time, he didn't even bother to give [member="Rexus Wenck"] a response, or even acknowledgement that he had heard him after another one of the troopers had called for his attention.

There was a frown when he spotted that the body was naked. Apparently they didn't listen. Still, he hardly acknowledged that.

"What is it?"

His voice cut through the ridiculous chuckling. Doubtful, was he that there was truly something important for him to see.

 

[Rexus Wenck]

"We found some nudie pics of some Gamorrean lass, but we also found this," The trooper said, passing a holoprojector and a gold medallion emblazened with some kind of odd, archaic symbol. "Thought these were of interest."

Rexus sat back and watched them, "Anything else?" he asked, "Weapons and such?"

"Older gear sir, DL-44 pistol, durasteel dagger and a rifle." The other trooper replied.

"What make of the rifle?" Rexus asked.

"Custom I think? I can't identify the model, but if it is one then its been modified beyond recognition." The stormtrooper replied, "Custom scope, suppressor, ammo battery and stock."

[member="Asharad Graush"]