From Little Things, Big Things Grow [Coalition Dominion of Saleucami]

[Coci Heavenshield]

Saleucami​

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When word came through to her that the Silver Sanctum are moving to Saleucami, Coci was on her way back from Fondor. She had come to the aid of Fondor after receiving word the Galactic Alliance would be there to assist Fondor's citizens. She was looking forward to returning home, such a long trip takes it's toll but the Heavenshield Class Heavy Cruise, pet named 'blondie', she had requisitioned for the trip deviated course.

She would meet them all there.

It had been an interesting trip for her, a small town that now had benefit of the Silver Sanctum medical supplies, saw an event in her life that she had not foreseen. Coci had found her cousin whom she had considered dead, was told so in fact, but Lilli is very much alive and well. Not close by any means, but it warmed her heart that she had family that had survived the destruction of Corellia. There was not much else there any more for Coci.

ETA to Saleucami, in one hour, she was informed.

Spoiler

Objectives:

1 Explore/Develop craters and Magma caverns for power source.

2 Set up communications lines and listening stations from Iego to Saleucami.

3 Gather plant specimens for medical purposes.

4 Go for a swim in an Oasis.

5 Do your own things and have fun.

*note: [member="Taeli Raaf"], welcome to join us if you wish.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Objective : #1/ BYOO
Location : Saleucami
Posts : [ 1 ]
Allies : [member="Makai Dashiell"]



Dust kicked up around his boots as Judah exited the borrowed speeder. Heat beat down on his shaggy curls, crawling under his clothing and sticking to his skin. Dry and baking, he hadn't felt the effects of his homeland in many years....well before Makai was even born, before he was married to [member="Thessa Kai"] . After he had buried his father and older brother, took his mother and sister off planet there had been no excuse to visit. Saleucami held an odd mix of bittersweet memories he preferred not to visit regularly.


The Silver Sanctum was in the area, exploring the idea of using magma as an energy source. It was certainly doable. Salacia had been expanding their green energy options so he wanted to personally see if Saleucami could be of any use to him once more. Having neglected his parental duties over the past week and having [member="Danger Arceneau"] babysit Makai , he thought he would show his son a bit of heritage while mixing in some work.


Before them was an old and somewhat rickety fence, patched in places. A hardscrabble farmhouse built from pieces of metal and wood stood against the harsh landscape. Weeds and brush now grew around the foundation, a sign it had been quiet for some time. Plowed around the house were nothing but fields of a drought hardy grain, their immature heads straining towards the hot sun.


"Well, here's where I grew up. " Hand went to rest on his son's shoulder as Judah rested against the fence. He wished Thess was with him, it was the type of visit where he wanted...no, needed her by his side. "Whatcha think buddy?"

 

[Makai Dashiell]

Objective : Follow Dad Around
Location : Saleucami farmland
Posts : 1/20
Allies : [member="Judah Dashiell"]


Makai wrinkled his nose from the moment the Siren's Song had landed on the dusty rock known as Saleucami. The young hybrid did well in heat, nearly craving it. It was the lack of humidity that threw his little body for a loop. It reminded Makai of being in some of the space stations his father had built or owned. Practically zero humidity....it made his scales itch and his throat feel all scratchy, like he was sick.


Bottle of water was his new companion for the trip. Little hand unscrewed the top again and he drank deep, nearly downing half the container as he joined his father at the side of the dusty road. The grain growing was nearly at his waist, giving Makai a perfect vantage for viewing the house. Brows knit together in confusion....Dad and Nana lived in that? Iced blue eyes looked between the 'home' and his father for a few moments before speaking.


"No offense Dad but I think our garage and living room are bigger.....Why did you live in a scrap house? Out here in the middle of nowhere? Can we go inside and look around?"


The rest of the water was quickly drained and the boy retrieved another bottle from the borrowed speeder while waiting on a reply. Everything around here was so....boring. Nothing but weird trees, stubby grass, or that odd looking grain growing on farms. Makai was pretty sure he saw a nerf farm down the road a little bit. Other than that it didn't seem like much life happened in the area.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Post 1 of 20
Objective: #5 Do your own things and have fun.
Location: Medical Examiner's office, Western Hemisphere

Wel Kicklighter had been the picture of health.

Oh, he'd been scolded for his blood pressure and didn't follow what anyone would consider to be a strict diet. But, at 39 years old, the father of three was holding up better than some men half his age.

He was dead now, and no one could explain why.

There were no indications of cardio-pulmonary distress. No loss of blood volume. No clots in the arteries which might have explained a sudden seizure or embolism. It was as if the man's body had suddenly just quit.

There was just one notable injury on the body: A torn nostril.

The mystery of Wel Kicklight's demise called for a post-mortem. There were tests, and autopsies, and scans, and various analysis performed to try and find some quantifiable factor that would neatly fit the empty box on the death certificate which read: Cause of death. It was almost a week after the fact when the test results on the spinal fluid had come back, revealing the absence of several key chemical components.

By itself, the notation might have been merely some aberration. However, when combined with the injury to the nostril, it gave weight to a plausible and very frightening explanation for the man's sudden death.

The Anzati.

Vampires. Creatures of the deep space. Hunters of men who preyed on the brain and spinal fluids of sapient creatures in order to sustain their own immortal existence. Many spacers summarily dismissed the very idea of such a manner of beast as nothing more than so much myth. They were said to have no reflection. They were said to be forever young. They were said to be the living dead, able to control the minds of their victims and turn them thrall.

The moment the medical examiner's report hit the desk of the local marshal, the Jedi Order had been contacted.

And promised to supply their most experienced Jedi Knight on the topic of Anzat.

The marshal, a Dug with a bad attitude and a badge, was waiting on the landing pad when the YT freighter descended from out of the upper atmosphere. After the ship had landed, the Dug walked on his long arms toward the loading ramp -- where a small figure in a green cloak was emerging from out of the Corellian ship.

"You that high-falootin' Jedi Knight they promised us?" the marshal demanded harshly.

Reaching up his hands, the diminutive figure pushed back the cowl of his robe, revealing the face of a young boy.

"Farkled Jimminy!" the Dug swore aloud, jumping back at the sight of the youngling.

Ignoring the outburst, the child bowed respectfully toward the law man. "Sor-Jan Xantha, of the Order of the Silver Jedi," the Jedi supplied calmly, folding his hands into the sleeves of his robes as he straightened back up.

"Jedi? Son, my eopie takes a dump that's bigger 'n you," the Dug remarked with a sneer, spitting off to the left before looking back at the robed form a second time. After a moment of scrutiny, the marshal asked,"You know 'bout 'em Anzati, son?"

"I am Anzati," the boy answered simply.

Leaving a speechless Dug behind him as the boy began to walk off the landing pad.

 

[Matsu Ike]

Objective: Setup
Location: Saleucami farmland
Posts: 1/20
Allies:

Matsu was here on the agricultural world with a small look, they had been implementing the tani farms to develop some newer ways of cultivating while her agricultural division set up. She was looking at the planet itself and motioned to the jedi team with her while they were setting up the crates of supplies while marking off sections of the farmland where they were assembling the boxes for the bee's. "We have time to set up, mark what areas we can work and break out the handler equipment." Matsu was moving with some of it bringing up the map of the area on the forearm pad and her palm holo while laying it out.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Post 2 of 20
Objective: #5 Do your own things and have fun.
Location: Lon Ranch, Western Hemisphere

It was a paradox.

The Jedi were taught to respect life in all its forms. It's diversity was representative of the many permutations of the Force that existed in this universe, and the evidence of many more possibilities not yet realized or yet to be discovered. Be it organic or inorganic, asexual, intangible... Where ever life existed so, too, did the Force. Sometimes the relationship between the two might not be as clear. The ysalmari and Yuuzhan Vong being two known instances were the living organism and the Force seemed almost mutually exclusive, and yet the symbiote circle connecting the two was still present, just in exclusion rather than inclusion.

There were species who subsisted on the meat of animals -- beasts -- and this was acceptable to galactic society. One could hunt and eat a eopie, and for the larger part of the humanoids in the galaxy that was actually an expected norm.

Cannibalism, on the other hand, was a crime. Against not only the murder victim -- and was, indeed, classified as murder -- but also against the society both harmed and threatened by otherwise permitting the practice. And it was a crime without reason, because there were alternative sources of meat that did not involve eating people.

So what about when there was no other alternative?

How could one respect life, when the one life could only draw nourishment through the killing of another sapient being?

Anzat did not eat.

Sor-Jan did. Prepubescent Anzati children had a functional digestive tract that supplied nutrients to the body by metabolizing proteins and carbohydrate into amino acids and sugars very similar to other near-human or near-Duros species.

In adult Anzati, the abdominal organs which functioned for digestion in children were atrophied. It was a condition similar to the human appendix. The organs and tissues were still present in the physical body, but no longer performed any anatomical function.

Why the difference? Because, during adolescence -- that is, after the first century -- the vestigial proboscis in the cheek pouches of the Anzat youngling matured. In all species, puberty brought about changes in the body. The addition of body hair, the loss of an amphibious tail, or the development of sexual traits.

In Anzat, puberty marked a transition from food to something else.

Just what that something else was, not even an Anzat could adequately describe what sustained them. Some scholars believed that the Anzat siphoned the Force from out of the body, such as by leeching out midichlorians from the body. But the Anzat probosis always reached into the blood-brain barrier of their victim, which suggested that the 'soup' on which they supped was brain or spinal fluid. Whatever the case, a feeding by an Anzat could very easily go unnoticed. Dismissed as a heart attack or seizure. And, more often than not, that was the case.

As the small Jedi paced in a circle around a chalk outline that was starting to fade from the floor of the barn, the boy was presented by the very real possibility that this Anzat might have merely been passing through Saleucami. Come in on a freighter, and gone on the next. With Wel Kicklighter as one of any number of lives extinguished because the Anzat had no other means to survive but through the object murder of other humanoids.

And not just any humanoid. There was something special about the target of an Anzat.

They weren't just vampires, they were connoisseurs. They cultivated their victims like vintners out to collect a rare wine.

At the opposite end of that theory was a ghastly concept to try and fathom. That is, that the Anzat might have been on this planet for years. Hundreds of years. Thousands, even. And was only now being discovered because of one torn nostril and the foresight of a medical lab tech to order an electrolyte analysis of the spinal fluid.

If the Anzat was gone, it was unlike that Sor-Jan or any Jedi would know. Let alone be able to track such a creature.

And if the Anzat were here, then the fifty year old Jedi Knight might well be faced with a monster who was more than a millennium in the making.

Look in the mirror. See yourself.

Could he fight the future, and face such a thing as he would become?

 

[Théodred Heavenshield]

Objective 1: Explore magma caverns.
Location: Outside the entrance to the cavern.

(2)

As part of a small group of padawans sent on an expedition, Théo had come to Saleucami to explore the caverns and learn about the peoples of this planet. Such a dry hot place, different to the heat of Tabaqui which he had got used to, but this climate did not really appeal to Théo, much preferring the cooler climates. Tapas would keep his core body temperature cooler, he had learned enough to set that before stepping out onto any planet now, and he had dressed appropriately for the trip, donning a white shirt and thin trousers, his very own lightsaber attached to his belt.

The Jedi Knight who is leading this expedition gathered them all around and give instruction to keep together and be mindful at all times. The location is volatile, underground seismic activity a constant but what amazed Théo was the people still opted to live in the area. He turned his head and in the distance he could see the shimmering image of the village, a farming village that tended to crops as best they could in such a dry environment.

His attention pulled back as the Knight asked them to move in and wait for him in one of the large cavern rooms only twenty meters underground. He had been in caves before, and usually the temperature drops but not in here, in fact the temperature rose greatly by degrees. As he walked among the small group to the meeting place, Théo had the feeling of an impending danger. Not to them. .. elsewhere.

 

[Nina Heavenshield]

Objective: Explore Magma Caverns
Location: With her brother
Allies: [member="Théodred Heavenshield"]
Post: 1

Nina had come to Saleucami with her brother and the rest of the assembled group of padawans looking to explore the planet. Most of them were younger than her, so she sort of felt responsible for keeping them together when the Jedi Knight they were with wasn't looking. While she normally would've kept an eye on her brother, there was something different about him. There was a sense of maturity about him ever since he completed his lightsaber, as if he now realised the responsibility of being a Jedi. That's not to say he wasn't his usual, adventuring, fun-loving self, but there was less recklessness and less disregard for what was going on around him. Not even Théo could stay a child forever, it seemed.

She took his hand in hers as they wandered the caverns together, her own lightsaber hanging from her waist. No words were spoken - shocking, I know - but there was no need to. It was the gesture that counted.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Post 3 of 20 (shared with [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"])
Objective: Gather medicinal plants (and lighten this thread up a little).
Location: Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom Alderaan Queen...

"TK-429, this is Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot. We've got a hopper."

The clone trooper crouched down in the thick foliage. The jungle canopy seemingly choking the land around him, like a thick net of leaves, stalks, and vines. Obscuring the perimeter, making difficult the mission that the clone had been assigned -- of vital importance to the national security of the Galactic Re... uh...

...wait, what was it called again?

Oh yeah, the Silver Sancitum Correlation! Or coronation. Or something. Big words, whatever they were. Like how General Xantha talked all the time. He got the Silver part though. And Silver Jedi was a whole lot easier to say than Sanc-u-tary whatever-wordy-word thing was.

The copper-skinned Mandalorian had been programmed, like a droid. His thoughts and beliefs hard-wired into him as part of an accelerated learning program intended to furnish a fully combat-ready adult clone in 10 years or less. The concept of a galactic-spanning Republic, and of defending that Republic, was the boy's singular purpose of being. It was what he was made for. Literally.

To have arrived at a time where such a Republic did not exist, but a collective of warring factions -- spheres of influence across a map of stars -- was a very confusing thing.

What wasn't confusing were his orders: To protect and defend the surgical droid 2-1B, while the droid picked flowers. For science! Or medicine. Or something.

Small hands wrapped around the pistol grip of the archaic DC-17 Clone Trooper blaster, the child crouched down in the jungle-like conditions around him. His dark, wavy hair bouncing against either side of his face as the boy looked left.

A blur shot across the peripheral of his vision, like a shadow passing to his right. Snapping into motion, the child plunged into the foliage in pursuit, even as he brought the comlink on his left wrist up closer to his face to announce, "Hopper is making a run for it." Pushing his way through the stalks, the child set his right thumb against the safety on the blaster pistol. "Request permission to engage."

Dropping to his knees, the youngling made a sound -- as if mimicking the static which appeared on audio comlinks. "Negative, Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot. We are Amber-Two. I repeat, Amber-Two. You will not fire unless fired upon, over," the boy said, altering his voice and speech patterns as he talked to himself in some form of pretend play.

Stretching out on his hands and knees, the blue garbed clone cadet pulled the leaves and rushes away, to reveal a small toad-like creature. It's mottled purple-yellow skin glistening in the sunlight as the creature turned to look up at the child. A flap of skin on its throat expanded out several times, before it gave a chirping croak.

Ribbet.

"Acknowledged, TK-429. Amber-Two," the clone boy said, answering himself as he reached down and lifted the toad-like creature off the ground. "Hopper is now in custody," the child stated, apparently satisfied with himself.

Standing, the boy revealed the tears and deep earth stains which now marred the legs of his blue trousers. The weeds and plants which had seemed a vast jungle around him, no more than field grasses at the child's waist height. Turning around in a circle, the small clone looked for the familiar sight of the box-like, silvery surgical droid that was, like himself, another relic of more than eight centuries prior.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

(1)
Objective: Do your own thing and have fun. In this case purge Space Nazis
Location: Somewhere on the planet


Once upon a time Saleucami had been a dirt poor planet mainly known for being the only habitable planet in a system filled with dead, uninhabitable worlds and meteors. The dim, arid world with scattered oases of plant growth had seen little development. Most of its population consisted of farmers, though it also attracted crazy suvivalists at times. However, over the years the Republic had economically developed the planet and it was quite strategically positioned.


Now, however, the Republic was on the brink after the debacle at Contruum and Saleucami was once again free space, though it had not taken long for other powers to covet the world. What its inhabitants thought about this state of events was another question entirely, but they seldom got a say in such matters. Rumours abounded about Anzati who had chosen this world as their hunting ground and perhaps been here for centuries, if not millennia. The Jedi were investigating this threat during the course of their takeover, but there was another menace that plagued this world.


Unsurprisingly, a Sith cult had decided to operate on this world since it seemed so many heinous things were their fault these days. Truly, their infiltrators were everywhere. This was the reason why Kaida had found her way to the planet. Just in time to get a good view of a funeral pyre that had once been a home for natives.


The vivid blaze of the orange sun set met the rising fires that swept across the village that the cultists had shelled it with mortars and put it to the torch to encourage the others. The houses had been razed ground, the inhabitants had been taken as captives, put to the sword or impaled upon pikes. In many cases the latter had been mutilated in a rather ghastly. A strong, foul scent of death was in the air, along with that of burnt and charred flesh. Evidently these were the sort of cultists who saw no need to obfuscate their crimes. Subtlety was apparently a luxury article.


A harsh wind blew across the land, carrying the plumes of smoke that were rising into the air. Far away, in the distance, she could make out an imposing castle through her macrobinoculars. It was centuries, if not millennia, older than the Eldorai and had probably once upon a time looked terribly grand. Intelligence indicated that this was the base of operations the Sith cult, which had the awfully theatralic name Scions of Darkness, had chosen for itself. Why the Sith had decided to set up their base in an archaic castle escaped Kaida. It was very unlikely that the place had decent plumbing or clean running water.

In the light of the fact that its walls were ancient, it was also liable to be very vulnerable to artillery bombardment. Truth be told, she believed the most effective way of removing them would consist of a targeted orbital bombardment. Presumably some fool had opposed that because the castle was a 'priceless monument that should be turned into a musem.' Well, actually there was an energy shield, which protected it. She had long come to the conclusion that most people were terribly dim. Still, sheer evil and malice radiated from the fortress, for it was undoubtedly a nexus of dark power.


Supposedly the Grand Overlord, for such was the pompous title of the Scions of Darkness' leader, had been able to sway several Padawans and even a Master over to his side by the power of his oratory alone. Hence he was said to be a master mentalist with superhuman charisma. Kaida doubted this strongly and attributed his success to lack of discipline in Jedi training. If they had corporal punishment, Literacy Modules and Commissars, things would be different.


With Kaida was her good buddy [member="Tempest"] because the frost elf needed someone to kick butt and exchange witty one-liners with. Well, presumably the Dahomian Storm Queen would be the one to make quips because Kaida was the stoic sort. They had been warned to expect dark magi, expendable stormtroopers and Sithspawn. Kaida hoped that the rumours about Sith using their vile alchemy to create catgirls were unfounded because that was a step too far; even for avatars of evil. Well, too absurd.


[member="Valiens Nantaris"]

 

[Taiden Keth]

Objective: Explore Magma Caverns
Location: Behind the children.
[member="Théodred Heavenshield"] | [member="Nina Heavenshield"]
Posts: 1/20

Because of Taiden missing the opportunity last time for fun and high adventure on their outing, this time he’d volunteered to go with the padawan group. Well really his motivations were to go along to study the location and bring back rock samples, sample jar in hand, not really understanding the meaning of fun, but at least he was out of the library!

Presumably the stuffy Echani scholar had been given a shared duty of watching out for the younglings too, should their small group get separated, good luck there taiden, and he was taking his duties very seriously. Just as they moved with gesture unspoken, he’d said little because being an Echani he expressed through motion, subtle gesture and often a simple or gentle look, his duty and honor to make sure they were unharmed at the forefront of his focus.

Pure of white tunic, trousers, boots and belt, a silver Keth blade lay across his back shining and gleaming. Listening to the knight, a nod was given to both children if they looked his way. Face showing silver hair running down his temple and cheek, and sharp angular features looking outward, eyes poised to gently study the finer intricacies of their cavern system. Though his walk behind them barely made sound, leaving little in the way of a trail, as was his way not to disturb the environment around them with but the faintest mark upon it.

[member="Théodred Heavenshield"] | [member="Nina Heavenshield"]​

 

[Kei Amadis]

Objective: Assist Matsu
Location: Saleucami Farmland
Posts: 2/20
Allies: [member="Matsu Ike"]

Matsu would find Kei reporting to her position, with several of the wildcard’s Nikto engineers for her to use as she wanted, farms and irrigation were a new thing for them to try, but the humanitarian efforts of the unit were seeing more regular use, so it shouldn’t be too hard a stretch or them. As always the engineers were the roughest of the bunch, but they were keen today, they were finding their new humanitarian role, a large deep change from working on Kintan serving force knows what kind of insane force order, you could say taking a stroll through the farmlands and fixing up homes was a paradise by comparison, and it showed on their faces.

“Thought you could use a hand Master Matsu” Kei remarked with a grin, extending a hand, today he was wearing armor, for one of the first times in his life, his last trip out still painfully reminded on his back. Stubble as always ever present on his chin, and boots as usual having walked through more mud than a pack of padawans combined, he’d have rolled up his sleeves but durasteel didn’t budge easily.

“Where do we start?” Amadis scanned across their horizon, and then looked to her map, taking a read on the situation. "Setup over here, work on irrigation?"

In the background transports were pulling up, hardbacks loaded with materials, and the area was seeing a bit more activity around her. The familiar hum of building and construction out on the rim, if he was honest, the air, the breeze, the work, Kei loved every second of this new role he was assigned to, when his duty allowed him to.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

OBJECTIVE: Storm the castle.

[member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Tempest"] (Go at your own pace, I'm just in the area.)

It wasn't often that Sith came as close to Rekali territory as this. Certainly not Sith splinter groups without obvious allies or, indeed, the discretion to go it alone.

"Brembla Kol-Rekali."

Force, but sometimes it was hard not to hate. He'd given in more times than he should. That had to rank among the greatest reasons he'd retired from being a Jedi Master.

"Faran Kol-Rekali."

A little amulet bit into his palm. His armor was superhumanly tough and heavy, but it had no gauntlets. He was squeezing harder than necessary. The litany did that sometimes.

"Rach Kol-Rekali."

Just the one name, and just the one death, to be remembered so far as his oldest son went. Better not to remember the cursed life, the second life.

"Certh Kol-Rekali."

An innocent, unlike his brother. A fool in many ways, but he'd died well.

"Benna Kol-Rekali."

The little one. They'd killed the little one -- at Metalorn.

Perhaps today wouldn't be a good day for self-control after all.

 

[Matsu Ike]

Objective: Setup
Location: Saleucami farmland
Posts: 2/20
Allies: [member="Kei Amadis"]

Matsu looked at Kei as he arrived and she gave a nod of her head to him. They were working on the area as she slowly worked on assembling the cages with small emitters on the edges to link them. "Irrigation will help, we want the flowers in the area for the bees but we also need to work on setting up power lines under the ground. The sonic emiters will keep them in the area so they don't harm others and we'll be able to harvest the honey." She looked at him with a grin though showing one of the small jars they had gathered already. "Have you ever seen sparkbee honey react to crab armor... it isn't pretty and then it can ignite with a spark." While she didn't condone burning someone, when fighting for your life against a vong or someone wearing the armor.... having something on them that could stop the armor or make the vong retreat was good.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Ember Rekali"] [member="Kaida Taldir"]
1/20

To assault Castle Wolfenstein the Citadel of Darkness Firemane and the Coalition had assembled a considerable force. Unfortunately the castle was protected by an energy shield which prevented a bombardment simply levelling it to the ground.

Therefore the attack was limited to only a couple of avenues, and the Scions had built their defences well. Overlapping fire arcs from missiles, laser cannons and anti-personnel weapons made any frontal attack suicidal.

However Tempest had recently acquired some interesting toys from [member="Judah Dashiell"], giant borers which could go under the fortress and emerge inside it, bypassing the defences. So whilst their forces launched feints at the front Tempest, Kaida, two squads of Angelii and five of Firemane troops would launch their unexpected assault….

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Ember Rekali"]

(2)

Above them, the sounds of blasterfire and shelling could be heard as the fortress came under assault. It was a feint, of course. Despite being an archaic structure from another age, the Citadel was well-defended and the Coalition did not have the manpower in this sector for a direct assault without untenable casualties.


There was a time for battering ramming and there was a time to play the stealth card. Clad from head to toe in phrik armour, Kaida was stoic and quiet as she sat inside the mechanical borer along with Tempest. Despite its giant size, it was internally quite cramped, especially since there were a couple Angelii and Firemane soldiers with them!


The sounds of battle above were soon drowned out by the noise caused by the borers' burrowed their way out of the ground. It went without saying that a giant drill was not very stealthy. "Deploy smoke launchers," Kaida spoke quietly, dispassionately, as the the borers appeared on the surface.


Noise was heard, as Sith soldiers who had been patrolling the area were alerted and raced into the basement, then the room was engulfed in smoke. In the same moment Kaida gave a hand signal to the Angelii and pulled at the tangled web of the Force to bend the light around her, vanishing from sight while also reducing her heart signature. As a skilled cryomancer, manipulating the latter was not that difficult for her. The hatch of the borer was opened and she was out.


A Sith trooper barely had enough time to process what was going on when suddenly a yellow lightsabre erupted right through his back. No sooner had he crumpled to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been pulled, than Kaida had scythed down one of his companions and whirled around to manifest ice spikes seemingly out of nothing and toss them through the air at hyper-velocity to drive it through the helmet of two more troopers about to put the intruders under fire. Angelii poured out of the borers, putting the Sith under fire with bolters or unleashing scalding blasts of flame and lightning. The sharp crack of bolters resounded echoed across the halls, accompanied by screams of pain.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Tempest"]

When presented with Sith and an energy shield, Ember's fancy turned lightly to thoughts of Mandalorian drop pods. Specifically, the kind with field disruptors strapped on.

The pod hit the shield at terminal velocity and rammed right through, giving Ember an appreciable jolt. A second jolt followed as the pod embedded itself in a tower roof. The doors groaned, hydraulics straining against tough old wood and the weight of stone. The tower shuddered, the doors opened, and out stepped a knight in shining armor.

With a Mandalorian shotgun in each hand.

WHAKKARABOOM.

 

[Théodred Heavenshield]

Objective: Try and rid this impeding doom feeling.
Location: Twenty meters underground

[member="Nina Heavenshield"] | [member="Taiden Keth"]

(3)


Subtle hand gestures, subtle body movement, subtle deep and meaningful looks the only method of communication with a couple of bookish types! And a Knight running this expedition who seemed to have the eye of a eagle which, in Théo's mind seemed to be constantly trained on him! Someone had spilled the beans! This was going to be a long day. But regardless of all this he could not rid himself of the alarm in his mind and it was growing louder.

And then it started to work it's way through his feet, and ear and body .. the ground began to shake, the rumbling deep within the ground grew louder, shock waves shook the cavern walls and chunks of rock began to break away from the walls and ceiling, in panic some of the younglings bolted for the entrance, the Knight yelling for calm and for them to stay put but his words fell on deaf ears as rationale fled the scene.

Théo gripped tight Nina's hand and the other reached for the wall of the cavern in order to steady himself and her or they would be thrown to the ground, but the screaming younglings are right they needed to get out. He cared little for subtly now, "Come on! we need to get out but watch your step and be mindful of the falling rocks".

There was a loud explosion which echoed through the cavern, the whole place cracked and hissed with hot vapors, the quaking of the ground violate which had thrown Théo to the wall, he let go of Nina's hand so she would not be pulled along with him, she might stand a better chance free of physical constraints. He hit the wall hard, the wind in his lungs forced out of him and he stumbled to the ground. Dust and debris filled the air, or what remained of it, as fire sucked the life out of it and the cavern. He began to cough as he regained his feet to find Nina. "Nina?", he asked with concern, she would be able to hear at least, so he kept calling her name to give her a direction to follow.

Near the village, there is chaos. The ground on which the village is located cracked and destroyed many homes. The mountain close by to it, had erupted, and lava began to spew high into the sky, boulders of all sizes catapulted with the force of nature bombarded the village and even more, lava streams began to flow directly toward the unprotected homes. The people there need help and they need it fast!

 

[Kei Amadis]

Objective: Assist Matsu
Location: Saleucami Farmland
Posts: 3/20
Allies: [member="Matsu Ike"]

One thing Kei loved about Matsu, is she always had a way. So damned creative when she put her mind to it, but enough reminiscing you damn fool Amadis, “save me a couple of those,” he gave her a trademark solid grin, scratched some of the stubble on his chin, then began to become inundated with reports about the local terrain, where best to find natural springs, and some failed attempts at doing so from the engineers.

Taking a long time to assess the specifics, some clever engineer, probably inspired by [member="Fyor Nayus"]’s team recommended lining certain crops with a plastic like covering to better stop surface evaporation, Kei just shrugged with a nod, passing the idea over to Matsu. Too complicated for him, just pass him a shovel tool and let him get to work.

So he did just that, got a shovel tool to outline the best lines for the diggers and machinery to take, taking the queue from the engineers, he wasn’t going to stand around, and liked to set example as one of them. Within about 30 minutes, they had a basic tailwater system dug, using a ditch at the end of fields as a run off, so the water would recycle back into the crops, so not to be wasted. All in all it’d help the farms they were working on in savings and give people a better quality of life, because that was what it's about.

Eventually he rested up his arm over the digging tool and took a breath to regain his strength, his work bringing him back to Matsu and her very useful find. “Any way of directing or encouraging them to create hives?” Kei had suddenly had a thought, of the military kind, you could almost see the grin forming again.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Post 4 of 20
Objective: Gather medicinal plants (and lighten this thread up a little).
Location: Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom Alderaan Queen...

The 2-1B surgical droid had never imagined that it would have been functioning in an environment such as this.

By it's own internal chronometer, it was only 2 years, 9 months, and 47 days since it had been re-assigned from a Corellian ship to one of the Republic's new Venator-class star destroyers, the Sentinel. Medical droids supporting the clone armies in the field had an anticipated life expectancy of three months from initial outbreak of hostilities. Of course, it was now eight hundred years since the Clone Wars, and so both the droid and the clone trooper escorting him were now operating well outside of their intended functional parameters.

But not their Jedi General. Were he actually eight hundred years old, he would still be young for his race. With what little medical knowledge there was on the Anzat species available, the 2-1B estimated a thousand years to be roughly middle age.

As the silvery droid's precise hands sorted through the field grasses around it, a rustling sound indicated that return of the juvenile clone.

"I found a hopper!"

The cranial unit of the 2-1B droid swiveled around to allow it's visual sensors to focus on the youngling for a moment. The small Mandalorian was covered in dirt and mud from head to boot, and his physical expression and neural dopamine levels both suggested that the child couldn't have been happier. Inclining it's sensors downward, to peer at the lifeform in the child's hands, the droid noted, "That is a gorg."

The young clone tilted the frog-like creature back as though to get a better look at it's face. Then, craning his own head back to look up at the taller droid, asked, "What's a gorg?"

"They are a non-sentient lifeform common to many worlds, from Naboo to Tatooine," the medical droid answered simply, it's motor servos working as the automaton brought a tulip-like flower up for the clone to visually inspect. It's pediatric database suggested that younglings more often appreciated visual or tactile learning experiences. "Unlike this chrysanthemum olajaric, which is thought only to grow on Saleucami."

The clone made a face, as though not understanding. "What's a Chris-Math-ium?"

"It is a plant with anesthetic properties in some near-Duros species."

A different face this time, this one mixing confusion with curiosity. "What's a... an anna... ana-tet..."

"An anesthetic is a medicine that prevents people from feeling pain," the droid supplied patiently.

That answer seemed to satisfy the boy, though a mischievous look betrayed the sudden, playful impulse that prompted him to ask, "But what is pain?" the boy asked, suppressing a grin as he moved from side to side, as though unable to remain still any longer.

Based on the tone and physical behavior, 2-1B estimated that this line of questioning was a game. And past instances of such could continue for some time. Nonetheless, the droid answered, "A sensation generated in the brain through impulses transmitted through the nervous system."

"But wha--"

Bending forward, the droid interrupted the child when it placed it's hands on youngling's shoulders and spun him around. "Academic discourse on the human nervous system is not yet appropriate to your grade level," the droid remarked, gently shooing the child back out toward the field grasses. "Play with your gorg. I will continue gathering plants."