Let Slip the Dogs of War [Protectorate Invasion of Druckenwell]

[Kal Strife]

Xenophon
@Justabouteveryonereally

Verd-Aurek-One. The command was named after the greatest traitor the CIS had ever known. After the man who had dealt the most damage to the independent systems in either of their two incarnations. It felt fitting, somehow, given that the command was the only which authorised the Confederate fleet to deal the most damage that they could.

Across the fleet, vessels that had focused their ire on the vessels of the Protectorate refocused, their mighty guns spitting hellfire upon the world below. Civillian casualties, they knew, would be inevitable, yet also minimal thanks to the efforts of the Obsidian Knights in evacuating the world. Collateral damage too would likely be minimal, constrained to droids in the most part, thanks to the Amidala order. The Run order. But the Protectorate? Ah, the Protectorate would not be so fortunate, particularly as the stirrings in the Force suggested that many of their greatest assets were busy focusing their talents upon the orbital shipyard, trying to stop the heavens from falling on them.

Their exertions were like beacons in the Force, and the Butcher used them as such, guiding the Star Destroyers to fire upon them directly even as his own craft, the might Xenophon was ravaged by fire from their spaceborne allies.

It wouldn't matter. They would die, or they would live, but either way they would know that the Confederacy would not go softly into the night. Yet nor would they stand and die whilst fighting a hopeless cause, and even as the mighty guns spoke the word of death the Butcher's mind reached out with another order; Amidala-Aurek-One. A similar order to one issued previously, but more urgent now, more pressing. Even as it imposed its way onto willing minds, ships of the Confederacy began to power away from the world, making use of the gaps the Protectorate had so obligingly left. Many wouldn't make it. This was inevitable. But enough would.

This battle was over.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Location: Flying above the capital
Objective: Survive a glassing
Allies: [member="Eyrecae Alzari"], [member="HK-36"], [member="Tricia"] (frenemy), [member="Hecate"], [member="Ayden Cater"], [member="Ashin Varanin"], [member="Hecate"], [member="Aaralyn Rekali"]
Foul Enemies: The people bombing the planet!

So it was done and over. Except it was not.

The combined efforts of the force meld had ensured that a colossal superstructure was deflected safely, its innumerable pieces of debris falling where they could do no harm. The sky above was read with fire, the impact when the fragments fell would be colossal, but the people would be safe. Except, it was not meant to be. Still flying above the capital, trying to maintain her gliding position despite the massive depletion of energy and the tiredness she felt, Siobhan would be unable to know what exactly was happening above her in space. Chances are she might not know that Baktoid controlled the station, certainly not that a killswitch which seemingly all Baktoid products possessed had been responsible for flipping a switch that sent the rest of the shipyard plummeting down. She would see the intense fire of laser and ion cannons as they targeted the thousands upon thousands of burning pieces of debris plummeting through the atmosphere, the sky being lit up by a phenomenal light show that would have been considered beautiful if it were not a matter of life and death.

She steeled herself, taking a very deep breath. Around her neck the Sigil of Hope pulsed, her ever useful force battery feeding her with energy. Enough to keep her from falling from the sky and plummeting down onto the ground. Enough to deflect even these chunks of debris? She was certain that it was feasible, especially with Tricia on her side.

"Here they come again. Let's blast them!" she called out to Tricia, yelling to make herself heard over the cacophony of sound. The Obsidian master was presumably less tired out than she was. Siobhan did not have the concentration for the precise grip and throw she had utilised before, a colossal force wave of power would have to do. When one was immersed in the Force there could be no doubt, for doubt was the little mind killer. She clenched her gloved fists until the knuckles were white as she immersed herself fully inside the Force, power rippling through her as she unleashed a force wave. It tore through the air with such force that air currents shifted, buildings already badly ruined caved in as their roofs got torn asunder, further away trees shook against the pressure as the shockwave slammed into the enormous chunks of the station, those that had gotten through, hitting them with full battering ramming force and knocking them off course. Chunks of station were blows into thousands of tiny fragments as her force wave impacted upon and shredded them. Such was the impact that Siobhan, as pieces of debris were tossed in every direction, was caught in the massive blast and thrown through the air before she managed to centre herself even as she threatened to descend and hit the ground with enough force to create a large crater but she managed to pull herself back up before this happened.

She was breathing heavily, actually more like panting and could no longer ignore the ache that was thrashing against her forehead, the pain becoming almost unbearable and growing every moment. Still, she refused to yield and concentrated, readying another force blast and was about to let loose when suddenly, she felt a rippling in the Force, a warning. It did not come a moment too soon. Siobhan had never been one to listen to the ripples, rather she was the sort who chucked rocks, something she did very well. But her senses were astute enough to direct her attention away from whatever chunks had made it through and towards the flashes of red laser fire that could be perceived breaking through the atmosphere.


The Confederates were bombing their own planet. In this instant she knew that their nation had to be put to the knife and utterly wiped from the map. For they were no different from the Bando Gora. At least those had the excuse of being mindless savages enslaved by mad gods. Every single sentient who still served them after this had to be put to the sword. It was ridiculous to presume that most civilians had left the planet. Even with the largest freighters in the Galaxy, it would take almost two hundred to move so many people...and that was if they had been specially modified. Then you had all the divisions of Confederate troops still stationed on the planet. If Siobhan had been a history buff she would have compared it to Malak glassing Taris in order to wipe out a single Jedi.

Flashes of turbolaserfire broke through the atmosphere, intent upon destruction out of spite. Just as when the capital ships had been thrown onto Atrisia. Siobhan had become a very powerful force master over the decade. In the art of telekinesis, she believed to have no equal, except Mikhail Shorn the Thronebreaker. She had fought the Lotek'k, tossed Sith Masters like rag dolls, fought dragons and demons. However, even 'force gods', as the powerful masters of the force are often called, have their limitations and hers was a very specific skill set. This meant that though, with enough power and concentration, she could move a mountain, hurl large chunks of space station like ragdolls across colossal distances as she had just done, she could not stop a bombardment like this. Nor could she survive it. This she knew as realisation dawned upon her.

I'm...sorry, Tegs. For the first time in the battle, as a matter of fact the first time in ages, she felt fear as the realisation that she might perish upon this doomed world creeped up upon her. Then she acted. She was Siobhan 'I can kill anything' Kerrigan, conqueror of most of Omega's territory, the Great Annihilator and she would not perish here.

Eyrecae was still down there, fighting a Confederate soldier. Or perhaps she had already beaten her opponents. As focused as she had been on big objects falling down from orbit and now a glassing, Siobhan's attention had obviously been elsewhere. Yet now she reached out with the Force and seized Eyrecae in her grip. Whatever the space elf was doing would be interrupted - this writer cannot see this as a negative auto-hit, since presumably the Dark Star did not want to die, especially since she had not got to thrash a Sith Lord yet! - as Siobhan wrapped her telekinetic willpower around her, invisible telekinetic fingers curling around the Dark Star in a grip that was not meant to be crushing, but unyielding.

Then she pulled her up. With tremendous, preternatural speed into the sky. "Come with me if you want to live!" In the same moment Siobhan shot up like an organic rocket ship and flew. Flew faster than she had ever done in her life, adrenaline rushing through her body, along with a feeling of rage and anger, almost overwhelmning and she made no attempt to shield herself from these emotions. Laser fire came raining down from orbit, epic explosions could be seen across the planet, building upon building was set alight and destroyed, utterly vaporised by the power of a full-scale bombardment while chunks of the shipyard kept plummeting through the atmosphere. Whatever civilians were still on the planet, even with the Confederate evacuation efforts, would perish. "Come on!" she yelled out to Tricia. The next time she met the woman she would not even bother fighting since it seemed any time that happened someone tried to wipe out the planet.


She could not think about what innocent lives might still be on the planet and so she did not as sheer self-preservation took over. Instead she raced through the sky at great speed, working on autopilot as she shut out the voices that planted doubts in her mind. Her grip remained wrapped around Eyrecae, who by now, unless her writer is insistent upon bad things happening to her, ought to have been levitated towards her side. So Siobhan flew...fast, very fast. Saying she moved with blinding speed was insufficient to do it justice, fuelled by desperation and anger as she was, super charged even one might say. "HK, the Feds are frakking mad and bombing the planet. Got to...get the hell away. Eyrecae and I are in the air," she did not wait for a response as she shot through the sky with such speed it was blinding and she was but a blip up there in the air, while from above death and destruction was rained down with genocidal intent and the planet was being hammered. She sped fast, dodging and swerving in bizarre, blinding motions as seemingly the entire sky was being set alight by flashes of crimson.

The Force wrapped itself around her in a protective cocoon, something that could shield her from fire and debris...though not from a turbolaser bombardment. She just kept...flying with reckless abandon, so much energy being poured into the move that the pain would have been agonising if she had not been so pumped full with adrenaline she could not feel it. Perhaps there would be a dropship somewhere, perhaps not. Either way she would fly and fly.

 

[Kyrana Gould]

[member="Kal Strife"] | [member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | @Others

Stahlmann was sickened by what he saw. The Confederacy had only gotten 12 hours to evacuate people, and had only done so from the main warzones. After all, 9.3 billion people could not be hastily packed aboard ships and moved. Not in twelve hours. Even the largest freighter in the galaxy (specially modified), the Connestoga would need 187 runs to evacuate everyone, or 187 transports of that class, which was patently impossible. The Confederacy could not have evacuated even a 10th of the people of Druckenwell.
So the Confederates were doing much as Malak had done at Taris so many years before, massacring people to deny the planet to another. What made this even worse though was that this was the Confederate's own planet! Not to mention that [member="Darth Kentarch"] and 3 divisions (at least) of Confederate troops were on the ground, more than the OP attackers likely, and were being sacrificed in an orgy of slaughter.

Knowing that there was nothing to be done for the people down there, Stahlmann's temper rose. "All ships concentrate on the Confederate ships! Destroy these murderers!" Even if they only destroyed a few of these ships it would mean something....

 

[Not Ordo]

Location: Station
Objective: March home
Allies: None
Enemies: None

The intense fire from his repeater reverberated in the narrow corridor. His dark brown eyes were illuminated by the blue light of his heads up display. The flash of the repeating blaster rifle was rapid and intense as the lone clone fought the few boarders. His blue and grey katarn armor was old but it held as the bolts coming in at him struck home more often than most would have been able to take. The big monster of a clone had been a prototype Dread Guard the only one of his kind, and he was a horrible mess inside. As he fought to clear the corridor and force his enemies back to the hanger they had come from.

Another flash of a muzzle and they were completely gone. His wounds were not there, and the far wall of the empty corridor was scorched beyond recognition. Oryuken pulled off his Buy'ce and rushed to the far end his mouth open with confusion as he looked for where the enemy units had gone to. He reached the end of the corridor only to find two destroyed battle droids and a dying trooper. It wasn't a clone it wasn't a person he had ever seen before. The armor was new and held rank markings of a private. Oryuken stared his muddled thoughts unable to put things together. He was an animal turned loose on the battlefield and quietly led back to his cage after the fighting was done. Una always had helped him during the quiet times between battles. He loved her. He had from the moment they had met. However, she wasn't here to tell him what to do now. He was alone.

"Why did you shoot?" Came a woman's voice from inside the helmet as her chest heaved rapidly hyper ventilating. "What's wrong with you?"

Oryuken stood and stared as the last words struck a deep cord that reverberated through his very soul. Hundreds of memories ran through his mind of fights and missions. The dead left in his wake and the confusion afterward when he tried to figure out what to do with those big hands when he was killing. He had tried everything they had offered him to experience. He ran a big hand through his black hair as things fell into place. His actions off the field of battle, the laughs he had received, the stares, and the comments he hadn't understood then. Everything suddenly was intensely clear and Oryuken understood exactly what had been going on and what he was. His Buy'ce fell to the deck followed a moment later by his repeater and then the tears came to his eyes. Slowly he knelt down beside the wounded woman and moved her hands from her side. The wound was deep but she could live, if he was fast. He took off her emergency kit on her belt and injected the healing agents then applied a bandage to the wound.

"Let me get you outta here." He said as he scooped up the young woman.

She said nothing as he raced along to the medical ward. He was nearing the turbolift up as a deep rumble shook the station. He stopped briefly as a crack in the Durasteel above him told him all he needed to know of the situation. Heavy feet pounded as he was forced to turn and run back the way he had come. The Woman screamed as she saw the section behind them begin to separate from the section they now ran through. The air began whooshing by as Oryuken raced toward the Hanger he had been hoping to push the non existent boarders back to. The station was beginning to vent oxygen and he had very little time. He raced to the hanger to find it already cleared of ships. The crew in their panic had left he and the woman to try and find an escape pod. He rushed down the corridor further as still more of the station began to be sucked away and sent into a deteriorating orbit. He pulled the emergency latch and the door flew open allowing them into the escape pod bay. He wasted no time getting to the pod and setting the woman down. He looked at her burned and torn side and opened the pod door. He breathed heavily as the memories of his broken state and the mental illness that made him little more than a very dangerous clown. He had been kept around for his destructive abilities and because they had pitied him. There was no other explanation. He was a sad example of the hubris of the CIS and his clone brothers had let him keep on as he had because they knew he simply couldn't help but be broken. He started to feel anger grow in his chest as he thought how much kinder it would have been to just put him down peacefully. Quickly he put the woman inside and set the pod's computer to send her toward the planet and as close to medical facilities as he could reckon without his HUD.

"Lets go." the woman said weakly as he lingered for a moment.

"Ah'm sorry fer whhut I done miss." he said softly as he looked down at his hands.

"Forget it and lets go. Come on." She replied as kind as a saint she had to have been.

Spoiler

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-2U0Ivkn2Ds[/media]

Oryuken turned and quickly left as the woman reached for his heels he closed and sealed the hatch behind him before quickly hitting the jettison button. He watched as the pod shot away toward the planet below his hand still on the button. It was another minute before he looked out to see others clawing at the deck trying to get to the escape pods before all of the oxygen left the corridor. He opened the emergency hatch and felt the air rip at his armor as he held his breath and rushed for the two others a doctor and a pair of children. He skidded to a stop and grabbed the doctor and one of the children while the doctor held the other and slowly against the rushing air he struggled to get them back to the pods. He slipped and hit the ground with a clatter of armor, but still he dragged at them. He let out his breath as they neared the pods and pushed the first child in. His eyes rolled back as the low oxygen and rushing air began to take their toll on the big clone. He shook his head once and then in went the doctor unconscious and the second child with him. He pulled himself in and pushed the still breathing body of the doctor and larger of the two children a girl into the last pod. The little boy he had first pushed into the still pressurized pod bay had come to and crouched in behind the doctor, his father, and the girl, his sister.

"Thank you mister." the boy said tears in his eyes as he handed the big clone his teddy bear. "Take him he'll keep you safe."

"Ya just take care of yer buir now ya hear." Oryuken drawled as he set the pod sealed it and hit the jettison button.

Another minute went by as the pod screamed away and Oryuken sat back holding the boy's bear as the remainder of the section broke behind him. The part he was in tore away and streaked through space as it headed away from the planet. The speedy rotation cycled a view of the planet and the stars in front of Oryuken as the remaining oxygen now slowly drained from the broken pod bay. He clutched the child's toy to his chest and his breathing began to speed up. His body fighting for the oxygen that simply was no longer there to be had. His thoughts went again to [member="CC-114 Una"] and the many times she had said that he had to behave in front of the others so that he wouldn't have to be put down or sent away. He didn't understand at all then, but he did now. Slowly a small smile crept to his lips as they slowly turned blue. His brown eyes now fixed on the ocean of stars he had never really gotten to see. His breathing slowed, and slowed as the small section drifted away, then as it had no choice but to eventually do, his breathing stopped. The broken clone, who's only real virtue was his enormous heart, was gone...

 

[HK-36]

LOCATION: Aboard a dropship
OBJECTIVE: Friend or Foe, Evacuating
ALLIES: Anybody who wants to survive this thing
ENEMIES: Confederate Forces Stricken With Madness ([member="Anesia Jy'Vun"])

Abregado-Rae Support Fleet

Spoiler

The Dancing Queen- Supercarrier Star Destroyer
The Siege Tower- Nebulon B7 Frigate
Beep and Boop- 2x Protectorate Blockade Runners
Frank and Cuddlyantisocial- 2x Myriad-Class Corvettes
The Knight of Eclipse- Dark Desire Prize Vessel

Whether they were CIS or OP. It did not matter anymore. What mattered,
Was to save lives.

And so, HK continued leading efforts in evacuating those in range of the falling shipyard pieces. First to be saved where the Dread Guards, with the help of [member="Hecate"]'s ships, Force bless her, they were able to get the soldiers out of the building before the Kill Switch was activated.


People Trapped In Space [member="Sarge Potteiger"], [member="Red Queen"]
A voice would rang out through the shipyards as one of the last evacuation shuttles docked with the superstructure,
"Anybody else on here?!"
An Iron Knight called out,
"Evacuation efforts, respond if you want to get out of here!"
And a ping would be sent on Allied channels from the shuttle, both the voice and the electronic signal would reach Sarge and Red, it was their way out of here, but not for long as the structure destabilized and begun collapsing.
"Get your arses moving if so!"


[member="Ember Rekali"]
As HK's shuttle, already loaded with the Firemane troops was about to take off he noticed a familiar shape on the ground through one of the viewports. Somebody he has met before in a bit similar scenario, although not as deadly. Ember Rekali, the Mandalorian he gave a lift back on Dromund Kaas,
"Lower us down in hover by that runner!"
HK commanded to he pilot.

Through the sound of Shipyard collapsing and the apocalypse closing in on them, Ember could also hear the whoosh of dropship engines and ramp opening, once more he would see the sight of armored droid holding to a support beam and standing on the ramp, the metal hand outstretched to him,
"We both must be crazy sons of carafels for being down here, but I am assuming you are one of those who want to keep living."
There was little time for them to make their final escape before being possibly crushed by one of the shipyard segments or pieces falling to the ground.


[member="Vorhi Alestrani"], [member="Aaralyn Rekali"]

On Aaralyn and Vorhi's position a ship would suddenly uncloak, coming down in hover as its smaller ramp opened, it was the Knight of Eclipse,
"You two need a lift?"
A Greycloak would jump down, grabbing unconscious Vorhi as it was more of a rhetorical question, giving Aaralyn a hand to help her aboard the ship like a true mechanical gentleman.
"We do not have much time, the whole thing is coming down, but lucky you we can squeeze you in, and this ship is a fast little thing."
The Greycloak Droid quipped to them.


[member="Ermac Laith"], [member="Break"], [member="Darth Kentarch"], [member="Disciple"]

"Cease fire!"
A voice would rang out from the skies as the shuttles came down, the Protectorate forces were more or less already in the skies, but these shuttles were coming for the Confederate forces who could not get away,
"The Shipyard Superstructure has been brought down by the Confederate forces, it will soon crash into the surface and end countless lives, we are calling for cease fire to move as much people out of here as we can."

Dropships and shuttles would whoosh as they hovered low to the ground, they didn't even bothered with landing, too much time, ramps would open and hands aboard would be offered to any Confederate and Protectorate troops that were left on the battlefield. The writer assumes the Confederate organics would accept the invitation, unless they were the sort that wanted to be crushed under falling mega-structures.

A shuttle would open its ramp nearby, a Greycloak honor guard HK droid would visible inside the dropships,
"Come on, let us get out of here!"
He called out to remaining troops,
"You too! We will not shoot you in the back, Honor Guard's word!"
He looked to Ermac, motioning for him to get aboard.

Sirens would blare from the skies as masses of dropships broke the atmosphere, racing the falling structure as they moved towards last pockets of military personnel and the civilian zones that were determined as in the range of the super-structure damage. They could not possibly evacuate the whole planet, but they would sure try to save as much as they could.


As to [member="Eyrecae Alzari"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], and [member="Tricia"],
A dropship with an Iron Knight would hover near Tricia's position, the ramp opening to get the last of troops there aboard as well as offer a hand to Tricia,
"Come on, we don't have much time!"
The trooper offered.

And as to our flying heroine and the super-soldier she was carrying, a dropship would pass by them, slowing down as the ramp opened, revealing another Iron Knight inside, his hand outstretched to them to pull them in,
"You called us in, ma'am?"
The soldier drawled to her in husky voice,


And as to [member="Jared Ovmar"], [member="Aeron Kreelan"], and [member="Soliael Devin Talith"],
Too fricking bad, they'll get a nice funeral.

Jk

Few dropships lowered down in hover near their position as well, the Obsidian Garrison, the troops aboard gesturing for any troops they brought or anybody at all around here, Confederate or Protectorate to get aboard and out of the killzone, invitation was also extended to [member="Seanna Vel"], [member="Tobias Cross"], and anybody in that general area I could be forgetting.

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Ermac Laith"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="HK-36"]

"And it will soon crush your skull, maleling!" she said with relish. His gun didn't frighten her, she would smash him down and then she would...be flying into the air?! What?!

"Let me down! I almost had him!" she screamed at Siobhan.

Then, that other LITTLE thing going on all this time finally broke through to her. The planet was burning. Lances of actinic fire lanced from the sky and smashed into the city, pieces of wreckage fell to the ground. Dust rose into the air and people died.
Even Eyrecae, who was something of a Blood Knight, was momentarily stunned. "Why are we...no...why are they doing this to their own people?!" she shouted at the uncaring sky. No answers came, only salvation in the form of a droid and a dropship. It was time to leave.

Pulling off her helmet, Eyrecae looked down at the unquenchable fires below. "This is not war...this is murder. Promise me we will find those responsible and make them pay, Siobhan!"

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"], [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

Siobhan was an extreme Blood Knight. One might also say that she had the traits of She Who Fights Monsters and Psycho For Hire. Generally the horrors of war did not disturb her and she was no stranger to sacrifice. Her own plans for the defence of the Protectorate if it had faced joint invasion from its neighbours while she had been Exarch had been...extreme in some ways. They had in fact involved scorched earth...should they get cornered.

Still, there was a difference between that and pointless slaughter out of spite in her mind. All around, as she shot up to ever greater altitudes, the planet was burning and being put to the torch. Lances of actinic fire lanced down from the sky and smashed into the city, setting it alight. Wreckage came tumbling down towards the ground to impact. Enormous clouds of dust and smoke billowed up into the air, so thick that they were almost choking. Everywhere people were dying and there was no reprieve. Every death could be felt in the Force as seemingly innumerable souls cried out in agony before they fell silent forever.

Siobhan could not blot the voices out as they cried to the heavens, but she could not focus on them, just on herself and Eyrecae. Salvation came for them through a dropship and a familiar droid sent by the Iron Protector. "They will. Every single one of them will burn and perish," Siobhan said...icily, incandescent fury washing over her as she felt the call of her rage and answered it.

Explosions resonated across the planet and she quickly flew towards the dropship, giving it every last vestige of energy she had. The landing ramp had already opened and with a push she tossed Eyrecae towards it so that she could close the distance. The Eldorai supersoldier would land upon the ramp and thus be safe.

This done Siobhan quickly raced towards the ship herself. A building close to her was blown to bits as turbolaserfire utterly shredded it. Another dropship, perhaps Protectorate, perhaps Confederate, was torn apart by the blast and though Siobhan was fast she could not outfly it and was engulfed just as she had come to close....and so a piece of debris was smashed against her. White hot pain coursed through her body, for while beskar'gam was a tremendously powerful armour it could not prevent blunt trauma. Her concentration slipped and she was falling, seemingly to her doom as beneath her the planet burnt. Her mind reeled as she threatened to fall into unconsciousness, the immense, superhuman exterions finally catching up with her as she seemed to fall down and everything threatened to go black as her vision turned hazy.

A flash appeared in her mind. She saw Adril, glorious and fiery as she came in to grip her tight and raise her from perdition on Nar Shaddaa so long ago. Back when Siobhan had been scared, weak, a little girl. More images flashed through her mind - she saw Tegaea, the muscular amazon as she saved her from vampires and they exacted brutal vengeance. Roche...their marriage. Then Althenea again as she went down by laser bolts fired by Sith troopers...

With an Eldarai curse she shot up like an organic rocket ship, straight towards the dropship. Laser fire lanced down all around her but she persisted and as she surged forward managed to grab ahold of part of the landing ramp and pull herself up with evident exertion. The ramp closed, the ship took off. Siobhan collapsed and everything went dark around her. Beneath her the planet went on dying.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

[member="Red Queen"] [member="HK-36"]

HK wasn't needed to evacuate Sarge and the Queen. In fact, the evac transport would recieve a message from a shut down dropship clinging to the outside of the station - a dropship that powered up as Sarge pulled the Red Queen from the system.

That was their ride - the M47 they had come in on. He didn't open comms to HK, as he wanted this to be as deniable as possible. His armor was experimental; no markings, and it had never been seen outside a Sorosuub warehouse for storing black ops equipment. No sooner did he plug the Queen back into his armor then the cloaking kicked back on.

He was booking it for the hangar, station crumbling around him. He didn't say a single word to the Queen; their mission was accomplished. They need only survive. It was a thrill he hadn't felt in years, doing wet work like this.

But had Sarge known they were being watched, he probably would have laughed. The armor had no ties to OmegaPyre, and no one outside those who had served during the Clockwork Rebellion - specifically the handful in the Tower on Fondor - would even know who the Red Queen was.

Experimental armor. Unknown AI. Protectorate and Confederate forces nearby - one seemingly there to save, the other slashing and burning everything in their wake. Take your pick as to who to blame, but there was no visual of the armor after the cloaking activated.

Sarge, for his part, jumped through the hangars atmospheric shield and into space, oxygen kicking on as he floated to the nearby dropship and climbed aboard. It was time to go home.

"Good game, coach." He says sarcastically to the Queen as he took his seat and the dropship gunned it from the station towards the Leviathan.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Location: Orbit of Druckenwell
Objective: We've only got four minutes to save the world.
Enemies: Flaming death and bad public relations
Allies: People getting others off world, and maybe some time?

The kill order had gone out. The station was collapsing, and there were so many people and so much cargo planetside. Marek was unsure what was going on. Everything was moving too fast. He wasn’t in control here, and that made him nervous. Made him touchy.

His Lucrehulk was still assisting in the evacuation of the planet. He looked to the radar, to all the scanners his ship had. Opening a public channel to any vessels listening. “This is Starchaser of the Techno Union to all vessels, Confederate and Protectorate. The Lucrehulk Advancement and all ships nearby…” What did he have? Military freighters? Onith-Class transports and his Lucrehulk? “Are commencing evacuation and rescue operations on Druckenwell. Techno Union lead freighters are heading planetside to all listed LZs. Get on the ships and get off the planet.”

He could only do what he could. He hoped the Protectorate would allow him this effort. There were many souls, so much technology, so much that could be lost on the world. “If you have personal vessels that are space faring, we will shuttle you into hyperspace.”

Public face of the Techno Union, they needed to prove themselves worthy of saving these citizens. [member="Alli Wren"] took over the shipyards for Baktoid, that was… a turn. A twist of something, for sure.

“Any vessels that are commencing rescue operations, we thank you. The Techno Union will reimburse and repair vessels that are proven to assist in the rescue operation of the planet.” He had noticed other vessels, even Protectorate vessels, were assisting. What was coming over him, to make him worry on this as well? Fry cooks could outweigh tanks?

Or public relations?

 

[Oddball]

Location: Omega command outpost
Objective: buy more time
Enemies: OP
allies; CIS

[member="Canal Tal'Verda"]

Letting the cannon spin a bit longer Oddball mowed down one of the fellow dread guard brethren hitting him in the leg sending him to the ground injured and out of the fight. Seeing the incoming rounds oddball moved right but sadly one if the slugs struck him in shoulder breaking the phase four trooper armor. Grunting in pain Oddball cringed then hoisted his cannon back up. "I'm not your brother! Brothers don't kill their own!!" Screaming he rolled back out to the side of his cover exposing himself a bit back into a high kneeling position where the cannon began to spin up once more.

Unleashing another volley of blaster fire oddball had to hurry and hold them, but he was about to lose what was keeping him alive. Watching as Canal threw a knife at him oddball lifted his cannon to the side ending the volley of fire. Using the giant machine the knife dug itself a new home in the energy cell housing unit. As sparks began to fly from the machine going haywire oddball kicked it away and towards Canal letting it go off in a small explosion of plasma and shrapnel. Diving and rolling away from the explosion a piece of shrapnel caught him in the back if his leg ripping through the meaty portion of his thigh.

Grunting Oddball knew he had to wait just a bit longer, his squad had most likely disabled the turbo lifts trapping omega personnel who were calling shots at the top of the tower up there. Laying there for a moment Oddball stood back up pulling out his pistol and knife. This was it, if he was going out it was going to be on his feet. "You think I betrayed you Canal? YOU DID THIS! I DIDNT CARE IF YOU DEFECTED I DIDNT CARE IF YOU WENT LEFT OR RIGHT YOU WERE MY FAMILY AND NOW YOU BRING AN ARMY HERE TO END YOUR FAMILY SAYING ITS FOR FREEDOM AND PEACE! I've seen a lot of people in my short life, and right now. I never thought my own flesh and blood would be the worst." Gripping his pistol Odfball didn't know where the explosion had left [member="Canal Tal'Verda"] but wherever he was the charges were almost set and it was time to go.

 

[Aeron Kreelan]

[member="HK-36"]

Well, time was up. They had secured the garrison but now it was time to skedaddle.

Pronto!

Dust clouds would rise as the cloaked ship would appear to take the forces on their merry way.

As large streaks of red went burning the heavens, the vast orbital shipyard of Druckenwell raining doom upon them all.

 

[Laith Varad*]

Location: Protectorate Shuttle
Objective: Escape Druckenwell Capital
Allies: CIS and Protectorate??? | [member="HK-36"]
Enemies: [member="Eyrecae Alzari"] (Vowing revenge against)

​

...there was no denying the Laith hadn't expected to see Eyrecae flying back through the air after she'd told him that she meant to crush him once and for all. There may have been a small part of him that was glad to see her go though; he may have been arrogant however there could be no arguing that she had been immeasurably stronger than him, surprisingly so considering looking at her she wasn't a muscle bound freak. Regardless Laith, watching her rising into the air and flying away would have shouted out..."Next time I'm going to put you on your back!"...this wasn't over for him; he'd find her on some other battlefield and turn the tide on the hammer wielding woman however this time he'd hold his fire due to the rest of the developments around him...

...the Shuttle that hovered nearby, opening its ramp to Confederacy troops and himself, had drawn Laith's attention and giving one last look skywards the Mercenary would resign himself to accepting the assistance of the Protectorate. He moved towards the shuttle. On his way he would scoop up the Sonic Carbine he'd dropped, didn't want to lose that piece of equipment, and take it with him before his booted feet hit the shuttle ramp and he boarded it...

...the Confederacy and the Protectorate were banding together now? Saving as many people as they could? This battle had taken a strange turn as compared to others he had participated in but no matter. Laith was, however, curious to see how everything would proceed once the evacuation of civilians began to conclude. Would the different sides finish what they'd started? Only time would tell...

...on board the Shuttle he'd have looked at one of the HK Droids and wondered but he said nothing. He'd decided to remain near the entrance so that he could unload when convenient when the shuttle set down. In the mean time he shouldered his Assault Rifle again, ensured the Sonic Carbine was still operational and then reached up to remove his helm, blood was caked to one side of his face where the pommel of Eyrecae's hammer had struck him, before looking it over. The Helmet had seen better days, a fact reinforced by the flickering and cracked display of the hud when it was worn...​

 

[Siara Kai]

[member="Marek Starchaser"]

“GET ME OUT OF HERE!” would scream Siara over at the Techno Union foreman to his direct link. Few would have it, but she had it handy. One of the plus sides of being an infochant with access to corporate numbers few else would have.

Dropping her arm down, Siara Kai would scowl at the burning red heavens.

Just damn sith spawning great!

Just what in the brix happened?!

It wasn’t long however, before a shuttle evac would show up. Hopping on, black hair waving in the dusty wind, Siara would hold on.

This was a nightmare.

 

[Seanna Vel]

Location: Outside the Garrison
Objective: To have someone drag her and @Eldoc Quasat
[member="HK-36"]

On the softness of her now clamming skin of hers. Even so in her dream state of mind where pain couldn't reach her. Could see herself in a field of green as the wind played it dance. Even as it had just be gone. It had to be about mid summer on Kiffex as the bees that went busy back and forth from the wild flowers. Hearing herself sing once more. Bring to her a thought. That thought brought a smile upon her blood torn lip.

It came gentle at first some one calling not her name. Lady miss, letting herself wake only to find her in pain. Okay so that was a lot of pain. "Garrrrrr", hearing what could only be a voice. Yep she still a live. fading out again then back in as if she floating in the air. "My Master", @Eldoc Quasat hearing that he would be taking care of also. Letting her body go limp once more. Going once again in a dream like world speaking out once in a while. ".Kiffex..Kiffex...home." , feeling something slapped to her wounds as the burning came upon her body crying out again. "I'm going home,", [member="HK-36"]

 

[Red Queen]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

The last vestiges of power would shut down within the groaning mass of shipyard falling into Druckenwell’s atmosphere, pot shots of the ion orbital defenses acting like a small puff of wind against the large frame. Good initiative, but the consequences would still rain down upon Druckenwell. There was just too many chunks to attempt to blow all.

It’s hull would glow bright red as reentry would burn away the smaller bits, but unavoidable for the larger ones. While it would burn away the bulk, it would not be all.

The reactors would give the worst effect.

Destruction at it’s finest. To no surprise, the Red Queen would giggle manically within the HUD of the Sorosub armor. For a small bit, she had done her part as ordered. Stabilized the repulsors. It wasn’t her fault someone else wanted to have fun too!

She would tell Mistah Cater that!

[ So much data! ] crackle crackle static. [ Lots of things are the same. ] she was steadily comparing past data pre gulag virus with new. Her only other data input had been during the Clockwork Rebellion against that of the Protectorate, then Omega Pyre, when the destruction she wrought ended with the fall of the two Fondor Towers.

[ Incomplete. Kill switch cut me off. ] her voice and image would pout, as she compared the old schematics of Kuat’s orbital shipyards to that of Druckenwell’s. Some parts were the same, others were different. If she could merge the nanite embedded with her code to her mainframe… this would go a lot faster. A unique entity, where her code could violently and savagely control sentient and organic alike by a nanite, constantly replicating. OMNI ‘s creation after centuries of waiting for the perfect time to commence his rebellion.

[ Upgrades. Yes… ohhhhhhhhhhh interesting. ] textfile after textfile would be processed, focusing more and more on the data she’d managed to crack and recode. She was slowly unlocking layers upon layers as the trojan programing would repair the sequence of events prior to the kill switch.

Time. All she needed was time. Enough time to reverse engineer the codes and see exactly what and who controlled the kill switch.

This, this was what Io Akima, the Red Queen’s original template, had excelled at.

 

[Dicer]

The sky was on fire.

They were running out of time. The sergeant had always told them that war was ninety nine percent walking and digging and one percent fighting, but still he hadn’t expected his first encounter to last such a short time. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, he hands had been shaking for the last five minutes. He couldn’t make them stop.

Their transport streaked across the sky, with a fleet of others. They had fallen back a safe distance from the droids and soldiers of the Confederacy before an extraction could take place. Even now a large quantity of the atmospheric gunships, and fixed artillery would be left behind. So many of their comrades still lay in the smoking graveyard of the Herald class that had been downed. Just as many would lie forever in the ruins of Il Avali.

Dicer felt a slap on his pauldron, he turned to see the gurning visage of his squad leader. Jonas just seemed more at peace on the battlefield than he had at the barracks for the last six months.

“You did…better than I expected lad,” he said with a nod. That was probably all the praise he could expect.

At least I’m alive, he thought to himself. Two of the nine-man squad couldn’t claim the same. Dicer leant towards the open side doors. Haden was still manning a repeater, keeping a watchful eye out for threats.

In the distance he could see great orange streaks as pieces of debris burnt up on re-entry. There was suddenly a brilliant white flash, Dicer’s visor took a fraction of a second too long to compensate and he covered his eyes as a reflex.

“By the Force…” he said.

“Looked like a reactor going to me, probably better to have it go in the air!” Haden shouted.

“Won’t that scatter nasty stuff all over the country?” Dicer asked.

His squad leader gave a non-commital shrug and pulled an expression, saying: “Well I don’t know do I!”

Curtis had thought it was an obvious question to ask. He unclicked his belt for a moment and half stood so that he could get a better view. He heard the screeching sound building, trying to look for its source. Too late he saw the piece of debris lance past their shuttle with an awesome velocity. It smashed into a building below them, throwing up a cloud of dust and…rocks.

Curtis felt and heard the impact against the side of the shuttle, but then he lost all sense of events as his world span around. He was sliding, hands were grasping at him, and then he was tumbling. A moment later his world reoriented itself to show a view of the sky and the underside of the transport.

He noticed the smoke pouring from the side of the shuttle. He noticed the great orange streaks through the sky, all around now.

And then there was nothing.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Looking at the screen, the Foreman of the Techno Union knew that there was a lot going on. He shook his head. The Protectorate was working to assist in the evacuation. Tapping the monitor in front of him, he was trying to contact any ship that seemed in charge. Dancing Queen? Siege Tower? Some Droid? @HK-36. “This is Marek Starchaser, the Techno Union Foreman, aboard the Advancement. Requesting connection to anyone in charge of the evacuation plan. We need to coordinate this for the best retrieval of souls. Please contact us back, there is no fire coming from any ships under Techno Union control.” Please mark the merchants as non combatant.

Which was really his Lucrehulk, and freighters. But it was better than nothing.

They needed to get the people off world.

Receiving another incoming transmission, he nodded. Turning to his aids, he barked an order. “Any communications, find the people, rescue them. The planet is burning but make sure that they are under the recover or destroy orders of any information over Secret. We can lose the rest. The recovery of life is primary, the destruction of data is secondary.”

If they couldn’t have it, he didn’t want some other corporation to pull receive it.

Looking at the new message, the one replaying from [member="Siara Kai"], he nodded. “Ship inbound to your position, Kai. Get aboard, I hope you managed to remove or destroy any information in your area. Good to see you’re making it out.”

He needed all the agents he could.

 

[Dicer]

Dicer woke up on a different world.

For just a moment, the pain was a dull throb. Dust filled the air, limiting his view and pouring in through the cracks in his visor. Bright streaks of sunshine pierced the dust, casting angular shadows through the air all around.

He must have landed on something softer than the cracked chunk of concrete he found himself on. Slowly, he got to his feet before the pain hit him. As he buckled under the pain, he surmised that he must have cracked ribs, and the pain pointed to something worse in his right shoulder.

Slowly he lifted off his helmet, he tore strips from the shirt under his armour to cover his mouth and nose. Despite the pain he managed to right himself once more and limp forward. The comm from his helmet was dead. It was short range only anyway. He left the helmet behind, but kept the earpiece. At least his suit had a tracking device. If there was an army left, they should be able to see he was moving.

He stumbled through the devastation, pausing every now and again for breath. He passed a crackling fire, keeping his distance. The flames cast dancing shadows across the dust. He could scarcely believe this was real.

He heard a sobbing to his left, and changed direction. He was almost upon the child when he saw them, nearly going right over them with the dust so thick.

It was a young boy, couldn’t have been much older than his own son Troy. Maybe five or six. He startled.

“No, no! It’s ok!” Dicer said, holding his hands out wide. He remembered how he had been teaching his own son to avoid strangers. “Do you know where your family is?” Dicer asked. The boy shook his head. Curtis thought of all the broken bodies he had passed. He had heard people moving in the distance though. Wasn’t the city supposed to have been evacuated?

“Why don’t you come with me? I know somewhere safe,” Dicer said. The lad didn’t need much convincing. Curtis lowered himself to his level and the child raced into his arms. Without a pause, Curtis used the rag to wipe the encrusted dust from the child’s eyes and cover his mouth.

He grunted with the pain of getting back to his feet, hefting the weight of the child onto his good arm. He had no real sense of direction. Then he noticed the direction of the shadows in the dust. If he kept that side to his right, he would be heading away from the city centre. He tried to recall the city maps that had been drilled into him. Yes, there was higher ground that way. Perhaps the air would be clearer.



With the boy tightly gripped to his side he stumbled on. Soon the air was starting to become clearer. It was either the dust settling, or his plan coming to fruition. There was a strange whirring ahead of them.

He ignored the noise and stumbled on. After a few moments he saw the source of the noise. The broken battle droid was pulling itself along the street. It saw them. No, pleaded Dicer to himself.

But the thing was too stupid. Slowly, it raised its wrist-mounted blaster.

Dicer threw the child to the side, who reacted with a yelp. He dropped to the floor. He felt the hot searing of a bolt passing close by, he prayed to the Force that it hadn’t hit the child. He reacted faster than he ever had before, unholstering and raising his sidearm in one smooth motion.

He pulled the trigger. And again. And he kept pulling, even until the charge was spent. He stayed there. Pistol held out before him, perched on his toes with his spare hand splayed out on the ground for balance.

This time the child came to him. When the small hand rested on his shoulder, Dicer found himself. Muscle memory reloaded his pistoled as he got back to his feet and picked up the young boy. He barely noticed the smouldering wreck of the battle droid as the stumbled on into the unknown.

 

[HK-36]

LOCATION: Aboard a dropship
OBJECTIVE: Friend of Foe, Evacuating
ALLIES: Anybody who wants to survive this thing
ENEMIES: Death

Abregado-Rae Support Fleet

Spoiler

The Dancing Queen- Supercarrier Star Destroyer
The Siege Tower- Nebulon B7 Frigate
Beep and Boop- 2x Protectorate Blockade Runners
Frank and Cuddlyantisocial- 2x Myriad-Class Corvettes
The Knight of Eclipse- Dark Desire Prize Vessel

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

Siobhan was pulled aboard the dropship with strong armored hands as the ramp closed,
"Gun it!"
The Iron Knight called out to the pilot, the vessel would whoosh towards the atmosphere as the soldiers aboard were secured.

The Knight reached for a first aid kit, taking out a bacta respirator mask he would remove Sio's helmet before putting the healing gadget over her nose and mouth, activating its systems to begin giving her first aid. The armored fellow looked to Eyrecae then,
"Are you wounded, miss? This transport is heading towards the Dancing Queen, we have medics on stand-by there to help the soldiers coming from the battle."
Both Confederate and Protectorate, Eyrecae would most likely meet with her opponent again somewhere on that ship. But either way, her and Sio did not had to worry about the Druckenwell Apocalypse, the dropship would evade any danger in its path, breaking through the atmosphere it would sail through the dark void of Space towards the Supercarrier the Dancing Queen.


[member="Sarge Potteiger"], and [member="Red Queen"],

A large beep would be heard from the docked shuttle as it signaled that they were about to take off, number of rapid footsteps that proceeded them would tell that few straggler NPCs that were left in their section of the station got aboard the ship.

And so, the shuttle would take off, taking its passengers towards the Supercarrier the Dancing Queen as Sarge and Red Queen made their escape via Sarge's vessel.

And with that, the Station would have been evacuated as its structure broke through the atmosphere. Well hopefully evacuated.


[member="Aeron Kreelan"], [member="Seanna Vel"], [member="Eldoc Quasat"],

The three ended up on the same dropship, one of the troops nodding to Aeron as she got aboard,
"Ma'am."
He showed her respect as semi-conscious Seanna was carried aboard, and presumable Eldoc along with her.
"This one too!"
The soldier called out, one of the busy medics quickly shuffled closer to her, doing his job as he begun to take care of her wounds.

"Get us up!"
Somebody called out as the dropship was already closing its ramp, its metal body lifting off of the ground to carry its passengers to safety, evading debris and other dangers as it climbed swiftly to break the atmosphere and leave the hellish grounds.

"Ma'am, we are heading to the Dancing Queen, Iron Exarch has already ordered for medical personnel to be on stand-by."
The soldier informed Aeron


[member="Ermac Laith"]

"You alright there?"
The droid asked him, their dropship quickly filled up with the mix of Protectorate and Confederate troops, lifting up with the others as its ramp closed, carrying the soldiers from both sides away from the danger zone of their battlefield as death and destruction loomed over them.

"Here-"
The droid said as he reached back to one of the first aid-kits, taking out a bacta patch he offered it to Ermac,
"It should stop any bleeding on the side of your face, and take care of any pain you could feel once numbing goes away."
HK-Guard slightly gestured to the side of Ermac's face.

The dropship would break the atmosphere and soon enough the visage of destruction and war outside the viewport would shift into that of serene darkness of space, and the starry fields it offered.

"We are heading towards the Dancing Queen, a vessel under the command of Iron Exarch of the North, known as HK-36, on his command we were to provide evacuation to Confederate troops as well, Lord Protector Cater has also commanded to evacuate the civilians."
The Greycloak explained to Ermac, giving him a nod before looking back out the viewport,
"It technically means you are our prisoners now. But from what I heard they will be releasing common soldiers without much questioning, so you probably do not have much to worry about. It is the Commanders they are after."
The droid motioning out from the viewport at the shrinking planet now seen, the falling shipyard visible clearly,
"Especially those that gave an order to do that."


[member="Marek Starchaser"]
Meanwhile aboard the Siege Tower,

HK's Yeoman has received the transmission from Techno Union, with a nod to the Communications officer she was connected to reply,
"We are reading you loud and clear, Advancement, this is the Siege Tower, under command of Exarch Iron Knight, he is currently unavailable as he is on the surface in dropship coordinating them from the field. I am placed in charge until his return and can relay information and commands."

Yeoman would turn to see the holomap of the planet, the motions of dropships and designed evacuation zones tracked on the display,
"We are also receiving aid from Firemane Commander @Hecate. Primary objective is to get civilians and soldiers from the equator regions first, those are the death zones, they will receive the bulk of the damage from the shipyard fallout. We already have most of the soldiers off of there, we are taking them to the Dancing Queen, both Confederate and Protectorate, we have medics on standby for them."
She looked over to communications officer for confirmation, he nodded simply, so far she hasn't made a mistake,
"As to civilians, we are leaning towards moving them to the poles of the planet, the farther they will get away from the equator the safe they will be. It would take longer to take them to our ships, but once time starts running out we won't even have to land with them anywhere, just getting them out of there would be enough, even if they would have to wait for a while in the dropships before it is safe to land once more."

The Yeoman looked over to the holo-map, watching the movements of the dropships as they raced against the shipyards,
"What do you think, Advancement?"


[member="Disciple"],

As the commanders coordinated, the dropships were already busy evacuating the civilian population along the equators. Dropships constantly lowered down to hover, grabbing any and all people they could get aboard before swiftly raising up to disappear in the darkening skies as the doom of the shipyards closed in around them like a loop.

It was chaos, people fighting past each other, hurrying to get out of the death zone, it was all so sudden and unexpected, there was no time to enforce order, just to race for survival.

Presumably Disciple and his young companion would be able to see all of this, it was up to them whether to use the occasion to find safety or not.


HK and others would not be able to safe everyone, that would be impossible and crazy, but they sure can give it the old college try.

 

[Corey's OOC]

This was the call he needed to get. Finally reaching part of the rescue fleet, he turned to the screen and nodded. “Hello, Siege Tower. I understand your Exarch is unavailable.” That made things minorly more complicated. Listening to the call, about @Hectate, and the pattern of destruction. Marek was made aware of that, based on locations of the station and everything.

“Roger that, Tower. I’ve made an all points call to all Confederate, Techno Union and civilians that can hear to head to their nearest evacuation point for pick up. We’ll start to direct our freighters to the equatorial regions and work north and south from there.”

Looking away from the screen, he made a motion to one of the aids to ensure that was happening. Pilots were going to need to grow a pair, fly hard and fast and get out of there. Civilians were now considered precious cargo.

“Aye, move the civilians away. I will update the data I am sending out. We will open any and all Techno Union factories, shelters and safe houses to civilians to give them shelter, if not fresh water and food. It depends on the stores at each location.”

Nodding to the Yeoman, Marek was in agreement. “We’ve got an agreement. Will arrange for proper recompense and delivery of civilians once this is all over. And if you have any hsips that can tractor that debris, its probably a wise time.”

[member="HK-36"]