Wearing:
Shroud of Madness
Armed with:
Survivor's Staff
Shadow Proclamation
Bolt Action Rifle (308. Caliber, Scoped)
With:
Laertia Io
(Laertia's Equipment:
Ursula's Robes,
Crime Hunter's Pistol (Sonic Disruptor Configuration),
SynthBreaker ,
Nuetralizer Model 1(1500) )
Came to Ziost in:
The Scarlet Phantom
24 hours earlier, aboard The Absolution of Loste...
She didn't recognize her except for her face as she sat across from her in Laertia's personal quarters, eating a steak. Laertia was eating Pig Liver and Onions.
"I should have treated you better..." Laertia said out of the blue, face no longer as pale as it used to be due to genetic mutations from her Force Bond with Syd.
"I should have visited you. But...I didn't know how to confront Kar Shian." Maple said, uneasy at the new Laertia, and her mutated bronze and green organic eye that reminded her of Sith Eye Corruption, and the Durasteel Murder Skeletons Laertia called her Nuetralizers.
"You were in as much pain as I was. There's nothing to apologize for..." Laertia assured her, well aware of her Schizophrenia, and how it was rapidly worsening. The truth was that Maple and Laertia were two people who, without the proper equipment, were medically unfit for battle.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Io...but it seems like you were hurt a little more. Building walking Death Machines like the Nuetralizers I see around your ship is a new one for you. Never thought I'd see you start popping Jedi like there's no tomorrow."
"Never thought I'd see The Jedi Order ignore an obvious and much more immediate threat in favor of continuing their unwinnable feud. They left me no choice. Unless they can be bloodied enough to momentarily cease their efforts, or can be forced to the Negotiating Table, they will continue to waste Resources and Soldiers pointlessly, while the Bryn'adul are allowed time to shore up their defenses. I do only what I must."
"Killing Jedi is a hell of 'Must', Laertia."
"It is not my fault they continue to choose falling on their sword instead of the logical, rational choice. They will turn the whole Galaxy into Nar Kreeta if they are not eradicated or otherwise damaged beyond economic and military recovery."
"Is this really how you want to be remembered?" Maple questioned.
"No. But if it stops the Bryn'adul, I'll accept whatever the judgement of Posterity ends up being."
"Even if it means bringing your Lover down with you?" Maples wondered, growing horrified but hiding it.
"I begged Syd to abandon me to save her own reputation. She refused." Laertia answered stoically, eating another bite of Pig Liver.
"I'll be executed for certain if cornered. I managed to convince Syd to stay out of the nastier stuff since Dantooine. She might still have a chance. With someone."
Maple's head hung lower. "And now you want me to join you in damnation."
"I want you to help me save the Galaxy from the Bryn'adul...even if it means going through a couple hundred Jedi and Stormtroopers. They're hypocrites. They refuse to join hands with the Sith to win, yet have no problem siding with a government equally as militant and Anti-Democratic. I have no patience for their Doublespeak. Or their need to feel good about themselves."
Maple leaned a bit into the table.
"What if you're wrong? What if the fear has gone to your head, Laertia? What if all this, the constant opposition to the Jedi, the willingness to kill them, what if all that is just fear blinding you to the truth, that there really is no need to fight the order, that maybe you should just deal with the Sith first?"
"I know you, Uri. If you believed that, you would have refused to meet me. Or that baby Twenty-Two hidden up your right sleeve would have slipped out and you would have put two shots in my head."
Maple was silent for a moment before taking another bite.
"It's bad enough I killed one Jedi in a panic on Korriban."
"Fanatics like them would kill you, Nine, my Sisters if they knew what they actually were, and then destroy the Knights Obsidian--which contains Light Adepts--without hesitation. Helping me helps you. Helps the CIS in the long run. You don't want the NIO on your doorstep. They cult worship Irveric Tavlar. The damn GA thinks that just because they don't call themselves Sith they don't have to think about the Partnership too hard..."
"Alright..." Maple replied warily. "You've convinced me...guess I had to choose what side my bread was buttered on at some point, huh?"
"I empathize, believe me..." Laertia replied glumly.
Maple switched topics. Skip. The Super Insects conqured the NIO and destroyed the Mandalorians. Skip. Back to reality.
"So...of the two of us...who gets to kill The Amalgam when all is said and done with the Bryn and the NIO?"
Laertia paused.
"It should be me..." Laertia said in a small voice. "But if you get her first, I'll accept that. She...she would want death to come from you, I imagine. She loves you the most."
Maple didn't contest this assertion, only taking the last remaining bite of her steak.
"When do we deploy?" Maple asked.
"Soon." Laertia answered. "The Siege of New Ardasta is heating up."
Maple sighed, drinking her water.
"NIO can go feth themselves..." Maple thought after a moment. "I ain't living under their fething Iron Sun."
"There's a good girl." Laertia remarked.
Present...
Maple piloted the controls of The Scarlet Phantom to the Sith's side of the Space Battle in orbit taking place. She had taken off her biker gear and attached a specially grown Ooglith Masquer by her Sensei Nine Lives to her body, which covered everything, even her hair. It was dark with pulsing, crimson veins criss-crossing everywhere like a web. She had been warned about the dangers of wearing it, but considering the danger she was currently in, it was entirely warranted.
Laertia's typical Black Armor had been too damaged from a previous fight with the Battlemaster Khefiir and couldn't be repaired in time. Other armors were too impractical for the Situation at hand. She was instead wearing, of all things, 'Ursula's' robes.
"How are your Sons reaching the battle?" Maple asked, distinctly creeped out by this reminder of The Amalgam's presence.
"Orbital Drop Pods and Gunboats..." Laertia answered, pointing to objects in the heat of re-entry outside a viewport...
"Right on time..." The Black Knight of Nar Kreeta remarked as they themselves entered the Atmosphere.
Maple stiffened, feeling a familiar, evil presence on the surface and steeled herself as they landed near a Sith Defensive Position close to the temple
Taeli Raaf
was conducting her ritual,
Maple got out her Bolt Action Rifle as she stepped off the vessel before Laertia did.
Maple grimaced under the Masquer as she spotted
The Amalgam
, hands folded behind her back with a pleasant smile, flanked by Sith Troops. Nuetralizers were already disembarking off CIS Gunboats
"Daughters!" The SithSpawn gushed as it strode up to them. "So glad you could make it! There's so much to do here! Murder, Torture, Unholy Rituals. I dunno about 'you' two, but 'I' was going to start by shooting a few puppies for kicks--"
"Is there a point to you being here?" Maple growled, fist clenching in anger.
"Ohhh, don't be like that, Uri! Its been absolute ages since we killed together as a family! Love your suit, by the way." The Amalgam replied without missing a beat, throwing her arm around her former students shoulder, The Darth Phyre hiding inside her intrigued at being in such close proximity to Uri again. She was so full of untapped magical potential. She could be made into a great Sith Witch when the time was right. But not yet...
The Amalgam next noticed Laertia and slinked over to her, The Phyre within staring in delight without The Amalgam being aware.
"And Laertia! You're wearing my birthday present. May I ask the occasion?"
"My armor was busted..." Laertia answered brusquely, walking past her to a landing Gunboat that deployed her silver, skeleton-sons built and bred for total war.
The Nuetralizers marched out armed with Droid Assassin Rifles or T-007 Ion Disruptors.
"Shall we Dance?" One of them asked as they got off the Gunboat. None of them would be accompanying The Amalgam. Each were to be sent to their own squads to conduct Special Operations against the NIO in the Siege. This would quickly come back to haunt her later.
"Go forth and kill any who oppose you. If they surrender, shoot 'em anyway."
The Amalgam turned back to Maple. "Heading over to Feth the NIO up?"
"That was the plan. Same with you?" Maple asked, scorn on her face.
"Obviously. Got something nasty worked up. Need to slaughter a few squads first for it to work...care to join?" The Amalgam asked in a perky manner.
"Feth off..." Maple said, heading off with Laertia...
Currently...
They had been making good time into the city. Maple had already shot a few of the enemy, while Laertia covered her by deflecting blaster bolts back at opponents, feeling a strange relief that her schizophrenia was held at bay. (But she was starting to hear whispers. They belonged to the Masquer.) before the ship crashed and cut off their route.
As they went around ruin looking for another route, Maple stiffened at the same time Laertia did, pointing her scoped bolt action ahead of her, she sighted
Fisk Kamer and his new ally.
Maple didn't have to think about it. She took aim and fired right at his chest, while Laertia pulled out her pistol, reconfigured as a Sonic Disruptor, and fired at the Other's head...