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The Inquisitor followed the Sith as he strode in his steps. Always vigilant about the man, not wanting to fail his Empire and be deemed a failure in their eyes. They came across a room, restricted by the looks of it, which opened by the swift swipe of a keycard by one of Maliphant's attendants.
Cozy and small, a bit to Djorn's liking. He had an office back on Yavin that was more big and open, though not his preference. The Imperial much liked small offices, not crammed ones to say as it would be insufferable to work in. But as long as it had that...feel to be able to work in, didn't bothered Djorn. Sometimes small areas made him work twice from the stress.
And intense stress created beautiful diamonds.
"Of course," the Inquisitor said, sitting down across from the Sith, "I will dispatch some units in that area with their own objective. Some agents will either investigate, covertly, where they are keeping the stolen goods and a few to meld in with the workers; hopefully to gain more in order to counter these scums. And, of course, I'll have more troops to tighten security."
That should be a good start. His mind was creative, thought sometimes unorthodox that his superiors frowned on; however, he always delivered positive progress to his Emperor.
The news of terrorists began to worry him. Much more than common thieves stealing materials.
”I see...I’ll conduct my own personal investigation against this threat. More disastrous than stolen material.”
”Is that all, Lord Maliphant? And where will you be during all this?”
Again, had to keep tabs on the man. Better safe than sorry.
“I, Djorn, will be returning to Bastion soon. I was recently declared The Governor of the planet, and as such have more duties to attend to outside of this.”, he said with a somewhat prideful smile.
Motioning one of the attendants to come close, he gave them a set of papers he had been carrying before leaning back and motioning Djorne’s attention to the female;
“She, Arisa Palani, will be your contact during these investigations. She will report back to me everything you learn, and in turn will forward anything I learn or need done on the planet. Once all is settled, we shall privatize the area under Blackwell Industries, and leave the entire situation on auto-pilot.”
"Some of the locals tried to stop us, my Lady, but they surrendered once they realized the government had," a Sith captain informed her as she landed at the site. "Several of our advance researchers have already gone into the ruin."
Taeli nodded as she walked over to the excavation. It was surprisingly a long way down, but scaffolding had been erected to make it easier to descend down into the remains of the factory. The architecture was definitely period, from what she had studied of Xim's Empire. She could appreciate the power this place once had, and how Xim had formed his empire. Broken pieces of droid, a few blaster burns that were certainly more recent littered the entrance. A few bodies were already being moved by the Sith Legionaries, the rest of the local research team herded off to one side under guard by other troopers.
"What have they found so far?" she asked.
"Some broken fabricators, too far gone to restore," the captain replied. "A few rusted out Guardian Corps droids that were never finished before Xim was defeated by the Hutts."
"I'll be the judge of what cannot be restored," the Anomid beside Taeli replied in his modulated tones. Doctor Votoc, Aurora Industries' Head of Advanced Droid Research, had been suitably excited for the chance to study war droids that had such a lasting impact on the galaxy. It was said that several of these droids had actually be activated during the Yuuzhan Vong War and slaughtered dozens of warriors.
Location: Ambaril, Chandaar Objective: Assess a promising acolyte & clean up the streets Ally: [member="Zeynab Kazat"] If the thugs had known better, they would have surrendered the moment the door had been kicked in. However, it was the fight-or-flight response from the sudden entry of the two women and the deceiving looks they carried with them that moved the criminals to attempt to put them down. An effort that was, unfortunately for them, doomed from the very beginning. When faced down by two Sith, not many would stand much of a chance, even when in larger numbers. While Zeynab took care of the aqualish she herself decided to go for an approach that wasn't as physical as a knife slitting a throat, but most definitely was just as lethal and would hopefully send a clear message that surrender was the only option besides death. The tool she employed for this? The Force itself.
With the acolyte wasting no time getting into the thick of things, Avacyn saw ample opportunity to make use of the distraction she provided. Wrapping herself in the Force that surrounded all, she focussed on the concrete floor of the warehouse through it and with with a lift of her left hand cracks began to show. She was utilizing the technique of earth shaping- the sand and gravel found within was what allowed her to do this. A large chunk of the floor began floating up into the air as it was held up by her will, then with her hands, moving as though she was tearing it apart with them, it shattered into smaller pieces. The woman looked over to where Zeynab was to ensure she wouldn't be caught in the assault after which, the debris turned into lethal projectiles headed for a trio of thugs.
They couldn't dodge it.
Not bothering to pay any mind to the extent of the damage it caused, confident that if they weren't dead, they were most definitely incapacitated, Avacyn's voice would ring through the warehouse. She didn't raise her voice but instead spoke in a level-headed manner, albeit stern. Despite this, it would sound almost deafening to those the words were meant for.
"Unless you wish to end up like them, I would suggest surrendering now." It was the only opportunity they were going to get at doing so. Still, with the message having been sent quite clearly, there was little doubt in Avacyn's mind they would comply as long as they valued their lives.
"Rear Admiral," Captain Sentongo had finished the alert, Barancar had finally fallen to the Sith Empire. It took a little longer than expected but it too fell. "Orders?"
Fiolette approached the Captain, hands outstretched toward the rail. Her blue eyes looked at the scene before her, the fires of the anti-imperalist forces burned to nothing as space put them out. Smoldering husks now adirft lifeless throughout the stars. The Elidibus moved over the planet and behind her the Armada as drop ships moved toward the planet's surface and others returned. The Rear Admiral's eyes seemed lost for a moment, her eyes fell to the railing a moment as she thought to herself a moment. "Prepare the shuttle, I want to see the Shipyards for myself."
"Of course." Sentongo replied and turned to give the order.
Whatever thought laid on her mind was gone, the Galidraani stepped down from the command center and headed out for the hangar. Whilst around her officers and crewers walked to and from their stations. Her black uniform bore the markings of her rank and service and her boots were shone to perfection. Reflecting the light as they moved across the deck. Shipboard security and armed forces were never too far behind. "Status on Janilis VII?" She asked an assistant the moment the doors to the lift had closed.
The assistant's hand seemed to scurry about the tablet they held.
"Nearly there."
"Excellent, inform Darth Arcanix."
"Yes Admiral."
And thus a message to Darth Arcanix, Janilis VII and Barancar both either complete or quite near complete subjugation. Certainly a reason to celebrate, and it came to mind that FIolette wondered how the Sith Lady's own personal mission was doing. She supposed she'd find out one way or another, still. "Ask her ladyship if she requires any additional forces to complete her task."
Merith drew ever closer to The Amalgam's rotting presence, determined to end the wretched creature before The Imperial Army found the Miralukan hunting said wretched creature and killed said Miralukan. Her phrik longswords grasped tightly by hands whose strength would soon fade as the effects of The Amalgam's Life Draining really started to take effect. The Talisman was keeping her up somewhat, but even if it helped keep her up for the rest of the fight, she was dead anyway.
The gnawing, awful feeling that she had failed Ursula gnawed at her as she went through the now-even more war-torn streets, the connections in the force either severed or bloodied, the curse of The Dark Side bleeding into the very presence of the planet, creating hideous torments in the Force. Far more hideous than the dark, polluted lake in the Force that The Amalgam was.
More happened to these worlds when the Sith conquered them than could be observed with purely mortal eyes. It was disgusting.
Merith's aged frame limped through alleyways. The Amalgam was holding her position. And that's when Merith heard the fiend in her head.
I must admit...even 'I' didn't expect someone whipping out The Talisman Of Memphus on me.
Merith snorted. "Stay out of my head."
You miss Ursula soooo much. I can feel your pain. Delicious.
"Despicable killer!" Merith hissed as she hid from an imperial troop detail by ducking behind a crashed starfighter.
Oh please, like you guys on the other side don't kill for what you believe in!
"You believe in cruelty." Merith hissed, feeling the creak in her bones with the rapid onset of age.
Cruelty is what this Galaxy runs on. Someone like me is simply acknowledging that, and playing by its rules...I've had to do that my entire life.
"There is more to this galaxy than cruelty." Merith whispered, the rotting presence of The Amalgam nearly within range, having taken refuge in the remains of a Tionese Amphitheater. It was open air, settled at the center of a ring of skyscraper skeletons. Imperial TIE's streaked overhead, firing on crowds of fleeing gangs and thugs in the streets.
Not from where I'm standing, Merith. If it didn't run on cruelty, why are you here?
"You murdered my friends. You murdered Ursula." Merith hissed, tapping into the power of the Talisman to keep going, feeling the exhaustion held at bay.
There you go, using that word 'murdered' again...it's far too strong a description for what I did. The Amalgam spoke mentally, wincing as she felt the power come into range, and she summoned her own inner corruption to combat its effects, feeling the cold shock run across her body, setting her skin alive and wriggling with pain, the darkness focused out of her hand as both the Talisman's raw power and the Amalgam's own poisoned, yet again decaying status combined in a perfect storm.
The Amalgam could barely hold it, and she was rapidly running low on the reserves needed to hold off the glowing green Talisman's power. Time to put her plan into action.
Her knees buckled, and she dropped to them, desperately holding off the power from eating her body alive, even as Merith approached, even as the very act of holding off reacted badly with her poisoned status, starting to cause her curvy figure to go emaciated. But Hatred kept the Amalgam conscious, and she took refuge in that hate, channeling it constantly at the Talisman.
Finally, just as her strength was about to fail, she played her hand.
"Would you like to know what really happened to Merith?" the now emaciated, decaying woman asked, moldy yellow eyes staring at Merith in pure loathing.
This made Merith cease only a moment.
"Would you like to know what I did to poor widdle Ursula? the near corpse rasped hungrily, feeding off Merith's fury to slow the poison and decay as much as possible.
Merith was very quiet. A skyscraper full of holed up thugs collapsed under a starry sky from TIE attacks behind her. The cloud of dust and debris soon reached the ruined amphitheater, shrouding them both.
"What?" Merith asked finally.
The decaying, poisoned shapeshifter, already on the verge of paralysis, dragged herself up. She transmitted the answer telepathically and Merith screamed in pure rage at the answer, dropping her swords, punching her in the face, knocking the Shi'ido down and trying to focus the Talisman...
But it would not work...Merith shook with hatred and disbelief, and felt it burn painfully in her hands, forcing her to drop it. She still had her swords. She drew them, even as she felt her old age weaken her every step towards The Amalgam.
"At least Uri won't have to deal with your crazy ass anymore."
Merith raised her long swords to the frail looking thing in a wrinkled body suit, and brought them down...
(Character Theme Song Power Up)
https://youtu.be/ZnSbrx5YByY
The emaciated figure sprang up in a rage, catching Merith's wrists.
"Uri is MINE!" The Amalgam snarled, not powered by the Dark Side. Merith had simply pressed her buttons too hard. Uri was hers to train. Hers. No one elses. They weren't worthy.
The Amalgam, powered by nothing more than mortal rage and jealousy, slammed a fist into Merith's nose, breaking it, then she slammed her other fist into Merith's jaw, and knocking the swords out of her hand and knocking her down.
The Amalgam, decaying still, tackled her, ignoring the pain caused by the Talisman not more then a few meters away. She had to finish Merith now she had maybe three minutes at most before decay grew terminal. She knew her bodies, knew how much they could take.
The Amalgam kept punching and punching Merith in fury. A quarter of Merith's teeth were gone and her face a pulpy, purple mess when she had finished. Desperately, Merith tried to reach for the nearby Talisman, only for the Amalgam to drag her further away from it, to the center of the amphitheater. She could feed better the farther she was away.
The emaciated wretch crawled onto Merith's battered frame, moldy yellow corpse eyes delighting in her pain, even as she herself was threatened with death if she didn't feed immediately.
"You know the best part to your end, eyeless one? There's a beautiful, starry sky, and you can't even see it properly, Freak...but don't worry! I'll make you some..."
The dust from the collapsed building settled on Merith's battered face. She could only see the Amalgam's darkness, and the horror of her answer.
"There is no death..." Merith coughed out through a ruined mouth.
She felt the Shi'ido's thumbs go over the area of her blindfold where her eyes would be on a human.
"Bull..." The Amalgam hissed, the emaciated wretch shivering in delight as her now bony thumbs gored two holes into a screaming Merith's head, smiling as the blood spurted onto her face, choosing that moment to start feeding, when Merith's despair would be highest.
Merith died screaming in agony, under the glorious watch of a burning city of filth, The Empire's starfighters streaking overhead, and a starry sky she couldn't see, the lake of darkness tearing holes into her face drowning her hopes as she mummified.
Minutes later.
After another fifteen minutes of stalking, crippling and draining whatever stragglers the military hadn't killed, the Amalgam finally dared to reapproach the Talisman where she had left it and Merith's mummified corpse, having finally retrieved her lightsabers.
...except it wasn't there...
Rage surged through the Shi'ido. She hadn't been gone that long! She threw out her senses, desperately searching for some trace of it. Some idiot gangmember must have taken it and ran off.
Bogan-dammit, the shapeshifter thought, still feeling intense pain despite having repaired her body through the unwilling sacrifice of others.
She activated her lightsabers, purple blades hissing as the once again immaculately beautiful Shi'ido gave a snarl. She was going to have to search all cursed night for it...
But still, the will of the Empire came first.
At least...here.
The Amalgam ran through bloody streets and burning buildings to rejoin the military and keep pushing the filth out of a burning new prize...
Fear... It was the soul food of the Sith, Mythos enjoyed the fear he created in the throne room. A man groveling under the debris and broken durasteel around them crawled onto his boots, his sobbing cries a request for mercy.
It simply wasn't Mythos' call, it was the Generals' call, the Ax of Adas pulsated like a beating heart of blackness where it stood, sunk into the chest of a fallen soldier. Mythos raised his hand and called to it, he called to it like he would call his Tuk'ata Groom and like his hound it obeyed. His telekinetic mastery brought the ax slowly to his hand and there like a pendulum slowly closing in on the neck of his victim it swung... and swung.
Mythos was almost certain that the order for his execution would come at any second so he prepared, Mythos walked forward and kicked the downed king hard in the chest. The impact was strong, his head bounced from the durasteel cracking his skull on impact but not lethally. He would need medical attention if he was to survive but at this time Mythos thought that would not be necessary. He put the Ax on the neck of King Sigmund, slowly drawing blood from it's sharpened edge as he pushed it closer and closer to him. He was ready to cut it off, decapitate him here and now, finish his mission and sit on the throne.. [member="Vestille Thumahra"] had other plans.
The facial expression of Mythos turned from enjoyment and pleasure into annoyance, he sighed and removed the ax from his neck. The general knew what was best and no doubt he too would enjoy the fact that the King was dead but strategy and the grander scale of the battle hinged on the king being alive. "As you wish my general. King Sigmund will be here by my new throne to keep me company. For the Emperor...." He said in a characteristically charismatic way into his comlink before turning to the King and walking over him as if he was already a corpse. There was a spring on his step when he changed his focus from death and killing into other perhaps even more enjoyable prospects in this rapid change of plans, after all... things change all the time, one had to be creative and optimistic in Mythos' thought.
The men below the tower, the special operations detachment from the 7th army now began to report in squad by squad and team by team, each of them coming alive in the holoprojector of Mythos' forearm datapad vividly.
"Alpha Team report, 1st floor clear"
"Vornskr Team report, bunker floors clear. Two dead, five wounded"
"Zion Team report, ballast floors clear. Two Injured"
"Jarik Squad report, All designated floors still overridden"
"Zika Squad reporting, directly under you Lord Mythos, Command floors clear."
Mythos walked to throne as the 7th army special ops regiment called in and reported then sat on the throne, removed his headgear and hud and pulled a large durasteel pack from his combat jacket. He placed the Ax beside him as he used to do in Atrisia, crossed his leg over the other and relaxed, leaning back on the throne and removing the Dark Bota Cigar from the pack. After every victory and every sign of bloodshed Mythos created he rewarded himself with the only thing in the galaxy that could clear his mind from wrath, madness and the never ending desire of vengeance. He placed he cigar on his lips and bowed his head in a nod to [member="Darth Prazutis"], the shadow hand, as he did always when he wished the panathan was here. With a small spark of sith lightning that came from his fingertips he ignited the large cigar and took a long drag on the herb, blowing the smoke above him in a cloud that resembled an image, something he did with a slight manipulation of the smoke with an ability called alter environment.
The Smoke took the form of Two Human Skulls Overlapping Each Other, a nod to the 7th army spec ops team.
"Excellent work skullheads My Strike Force will take the outside from here. They will relieve you from your posts when they arrive, report to the general for debrief... You are the standard."
Zeynab’s blade managed to glide across another throat before the ground beneath her feet shook. Part of the duracrete floor of the warehouse rose up, twisting and cracking as it did so and sending tremors throughout the room. Zey turned on her heel, eyes wide with adrenaline while witnessing Avacyn raise a chunk of material into the air before splintering it apart with what seemed to be a refined telekinetic ability. Projectiles of earth and rock shot towards the group of goons at an alarming speed, embedding themselves within the fleshy bodies of the unsuspecting.
“Wow,” Zey let out a low whistle, impressed. “That’s neat! You really did a number on ‘em, huh?” Her arms returned to her sides and the limp body she was holding collapsed to the ground in an unceremonious heap. Making her way over to the trio of now injured gangsters, she tisked while looking them over. “You’d be smart to listen to her, you know.” She commented nonchalantly, smile sharpening. They were pierced and bleeding all over, multiple small wounds compounding to render them defenseless. One appeared to be unconscious while the other two gasped meekly in a mixture of pain and fear as they cowered under the redhead’s stare.
The sound of approaching footsteps thundered from a door to the south of the room and so Zey gravitated in that direction, back pressing against the wall flanking the doorway. Two men burst in, well-dressed enough to be ranked clearly above the grunts they’d just dealt with.
The one closer to Zey had a blaster in his hand, the lethal end of which quickly found the Nasvalo. While a large target, she was swift enough to duck away from the shot, hand surging upward to grab his wrist and snap it with ease. She pushed him away via her grip on his now broken appendage, and when he went back in with a knife she grabbed the other man who’d come along with him. Average height, vaguely Atrisian features, tan skin though not as tan as her own. Her blade found its way to his neck, pressing against the artery there and this action caused the man with the broken wrist to pause.
“Ah-ah.” Zeynab smiled wide. “Come any closer and say goodbye to your friend.” Was he the boss? She didn’t know, but the hesitation on the other man’s part made her believe that he was either highly ranking or at least of some importance. Either way, she could feel the carotid throbbing against the durasteel edge of her weapon.
Dark eyes flicked over to Avacyn. “Should we call for that transport, yeah?”
Taeli had only ever seen the Anomid this giddy once before when she had approved his experiments into nanotechnology, but the Doctor was overjoyed with the ability to study the old fabrication center for Xim's droid armies. He and his team of Anomids and researchers had been combing over the ruins, taking scans and parts of the machinery, inspecting it and the half-assembled droids left behind eons ago. The sands of the desert had preserved the site well.
"Well? Was all of this worth the trouble, Doctor?" Taeli asked, glancing up from her datapad. She had just finished reading the message from Fiolette.
"Oh yes, I fully expect we could reestablish this facility," the Anomid replied. "We'll have to make adjustments, and perhaps introduce a VI to streamline and enhance the designs. The mainframe is degraded, but nothing I haven't seen before during our research on Tython. Rest assured, my Lady, research will go apace here and we will incorporate some of the design details, modernized of course."
"I'll leave you to it, Doctor," Taeli said, patting the Anomid once on the shoulder before turning to leave. She still had to make sure the planetary government was fully subservient, make sure the occupation was under a competent commander, and on and on it went.
The Inquisitor thought to himself when Maliphant introduced him to his assistant. Djorn was one to go around women and flirt with them, seeing whom he could pick up. Though he was always bad at managing a long term relationship with a woman, always putting more attention to his line of duty than his date. But that wouldn’t stop him from giving a shit with Miss Palani.
”You’ll get positive results from me, Lord Maliphant. Not to worry,” the Imperial said to the Sith, taking what he said as a challenge. Oh, he’ll do his job well. He’ll guarantee that.
”If you’ll excuse me, I got work to do,” getting up from the table, and started to head out from the private room.
”Oh, and congratulations on securing the governorship of Bastion, Lord Maliphant,” Djorn said in pause as he wakes before continuing to move out. What was his thoughts on this news? Negative. Didn’t enjoy one bit of the Sith being in such position of power and authority. Maliphant was a potential compromise and in turn could affect the entire bureaucracy and order of the Empire, especially since he is the Governor of the Empire’s capital.
There was nothing he could do about it, unfortunately. Only to maintain a firm eye on the man after his duties here on Chandaar were completed.
