Private Looking through old memories

[Sergeant Omen]

Location: Near Wielu

Omen strolled through the halls of the Venator Class Star Destroyer "Starhunter" in full beskar armor, checking through rooms and compartments of the old battered vessel just to see what he could find. He had first come across the ship in very much the same way he had been found, by pure chance. The Rebirth had come out of hyperspace in an emergency stop with the nav computer saying an obstacle was in the ship's intended flight path and what a big obstacle it was. The Star Destroyer's bow seemed to be taken off completely and what was left of the front hanger doors seemed to be left completely open. A sudden exodus maybe? Whatever the case, the clone might as well look around for himself.

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As soon as he landed the ship in one of the Venator's smaller hanger bays, Omen felt a sense of foreboding just by being on this forgotten space hulk. Just being in this dead warship gave him the creeps along with a sense of... familiarity with this hunk of a shaped piece of drifting steel. He had been through a lot of waiting time between missions on these ships. The Clone would sometimes just put up a picture of Count Dooku as a dartboard and make sure it had as many holes as possible within the Count's small white four-cornered estate. He would even talk to his former reg brothers, or at least those who had the time. But that was a very different time and time changed all people just like it had changed this ship. All Omen could do is thank his lucky stars that the gravity was still on and press on to see what he could find with the ship's dimly lit passageways.

The first room he came across was surprisingly enough the armory. The Clone cocked a smile under his helmet as he glanced around at DC's of every size and variety as far as the eye could see. This would be quite the haul if I could get first salvage rights to the ship. Or who knows, maybe he could maybe even rebuild her from the ground up to serve as a personal command ship of sorts though he might have to fight through the Silver Council's frowns and protests to make that one happen. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to make a quick check around just to see what was here. Maybe he would even find something as exotic as himself but he doubted that would happen anytime soon.

Laertia Io

 

[Laertia Io]

Wearing: Black Knight Chitin

Armed with: SynthBreaker

Frontier Pistol

DP-23 Shotgun

With:

Model 1

Model 1 Equipment:

DC-15LE

Recon Bowcaster

Lever Action Shotgun

Came to Venator in:

The Shadow Bride


She was so close to finding it. So close to locating Khemost she could practically taste it.

In the meantime, Darth Xiphos, ever scheming, wouldn't pass up even a little bit of busy work. She had needed to get away from the madness that was her private life, if only a little.

There was so much horrible chit going on it wasn't funny. Between her already depraved mentor The Amalgam being inhabited by a copy of the fiend that killed her biological parents, a copy who itself was a twisted version of her own former lover Syd, many of the most powerful factions in the whole Galaxy after her, getting exiled from the CIS (A slap on the wrist, but hey, it's the thought that counts), the Jedi Order out for her blood, barely avoiding total insanity, the only good things keeping her together was her family and the fact she was basically the mother of a race of deadly machines.

She had decided on trivial work for her relaxation. A Venator hulk had been found adrift and she had decided to investigate. She had taken a single one of her lethal mechanical sons, a Model 1 named Aleksandr. All Nuetralizers were her sons and daughters.

Aleksandr had fought at Korriban and Vjun, and had killed dozens, like practically every Nuetralizer, but was one of the more personable ones.

They hadn't expected any signs of habitation, but the docked ship in the old wreck said otherwise.

The prototype micro warship settled into the hangar, running scans on the ship of Sergeant Omen .

"Tough little sucker..." Aleksandr remarked as he landed the vessel.

Xiphos, who was next to him, agreed.

"Anybody in a ship like that came prepped. I'm going to try and get certain systems back online from here. Son, would you please scout, and find out whoever is aboard?" Xiphos asked, clad in her scuffed, scratched black armor, repaired dozens of times over.

"At once, Mother..."

Xiphos took a rag, put a bit of oil on it, and polished his silver skull.

"You're such a good son, Aleksandr. I'd be lost without you and your siblings..." Xiphos said sincerely.

"Thank you, Mother." Aleksandr replied just as sincerely.

Aleksandr rose, walking not precise, like a normal Droid, but irregular, like an organic. Xiphos smiled at him under her helmet as he gathered his weapons.

"Mother, if it's GA, what are my orders?"

"Order them off. If they refuse...subdue them, preferably non lethal my unless they leave you no choice. This isn't the Battlefield."

Aleksandr nodded and proceeded off the vessel, heavily armed, his Skeleton like appearance glistening in an ugly manner off the few running lights above him as he proceeded to explore the halls.

First stop...the Armory...

His Skeletal feet gave dull metal thuds against the deck plating as he moved, Lever Action Shotgun at the ready...

 

[Sergeant Omen]

Omen was looking over an antique Heavy Lighting Rifle that had been seized from one bounty hunter or another and had been put here to rust. It had surprisingly survived the test of time and still looked battle-ready. As the soldier gripped the weapon in his hands for a closer look when Q came over the comms, beeping like mad. Something was wrong, something was very wrong.

"What is it Q?" The constant beeping and warning noise from the astromech droid came through like a siren. Clearly, something was off. "Another ship? Someone armed is coming towards me. Oh Nerf..." After a couple of moments of pondering, Omen responded directly to the situation at hand. "Bolt down the ship and pretend to shut yourself down. If someone is able to cut through the hull, don't confront them if possible. I don't need you to be a hero and the ship itself isn't worth your life." He could always get another ship but he couldn't get another droid like Q back despite the droid's whistles in protest. "No arguing, that's an order, now go. I'll be alright. If I'm not back in five minutes, get Jhira Mereel or Caedyn Arenais on the horn and see who comes to rescue us. Be safe little buddy, I'll see you soon" The droid did a sad beep goodbye before shutting off the channel. Now it was time to make this place as half-assed as defensible as possible before Judgement Day came busting through the door.

Laertia Io

 

[Laertia Io]

Aleksandr's audio sensors picked up Sergeant Omen 's communique from the armory and chuckled to himself.

As was practically an ingrained habit for the Model 1's at this point, he began singing. This was an Infamous Psychological Warfare tactic of the Nuetralizers.

"All-I-need-is-just-one-moment-in-your-arms, I was-chasing-your-direction, I was doing-you-no harrrrmmm-and-IIIIII-was-loving-you--"

He drew closer.

"Make-it-shine, make-it-raiiiinnnn, Baby-I-know-my-waaaayyyyyy..."

Ever closer...

"I-need-that--sweet sensaaaaaation, of-living-in-your-love, I-can't-breathe-when-you're-awaaaay, it pulls me down---"

At the door to the armory. His X-Ray mode spotted Omen, hunkering down.

"YOU-ARE-THE-QUESTION, AND-THE-ANSWER-AM-IIIII..." Aleksandr continued to sing.

His Paddle Beam weapon mounted on his arm activated.

"Yooohoooo, Warrrrrrrioooorrrrr, come-out-to-PLAAAAAYYYYY!" Aleksandr called out, making sure Omen didn't have a clear shot.

"I didn't plan on shooting anybody, so I'll give you one chance to come out peaceably and receive gentle, possibly even lover-like treatment!" Aleksandr called out playfully. "The other option, which I, for the record, am really hoping you pick, is an old fashioned gunfight! What say you?*

 

[Sergeant Omen]

Oh great, the bad guy liked singing badly. This was just his nerfing day. "Thanks but I think I'll be a spoilsport and pick an third option Mister! And its ARC Sergeant! Maybe you would know what I am if you read your history books!"

Omen got the Hammerstrike Grenade Launcher loaded with Plank Gas Canisters off his back and advanced to the doorway at a jog, holding the energy rifle in one hand he moved into a blocking position against the wall that divided the Armory and the hallway in standard tactic fashion. He quickly aimed through the doorway and fired every canister he had in his drum mag before locking the Armory door and the adjacent hallway hatches down via the access panel next to the door. Thank the spirits he still knew the Old Republic access codes in his brain. The Clone cracked a smile as he also piped his own song through the whole ship. Vode An blared from every speaker from the hanger to the bridge, his own act of defiance that said he wouldn't go down easy.

The Trooper quickly ran back to the gun racks and pushed one in front of the door. It might not stop the intruder from coming through but it would slow him even for just for a couple of minutes or seconds and that's all he would need. As he stepped back and readied his rifle at the door, he hoped the intruder's death would be quick. Omen didn't like killing but clearly if the operative on the other side of that door was being so passive-aggressive, what chance did he have if he surrendered? No, he was better off fighting and dying on his feet. Finally, the Clone aimed down his old antique rifle's sights at the doorway, knowing if he died today, he would be happy with the life he lived and the little positive mark he left on his friends. If only he could wish Aren D'Shade goodbye... But he supposed that action would be to die for.

Laertia Io

 

[Laertia Io]

Plank Gas. Of course he had Plank Gas...

The Nuetralizer had gotten back from the entrance as soon as he saw the grenade launcher.

"Oh no! Plank Gas! And you've locked down the hatches! Ohhhh, woe is me--hahahahahahahaha*HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!*" Aleksandr cackled, continuing his Psychological Warfare programming. His design was heavily resistant to acidic weapons but he wasn't stupid. No need to get acid all over him when it could be avoided.

The Model 1 scanned the area as he backed away, spotted a ventilation system above. It needed power though...

He spotted a control panel and detected that it was connecting to the vent systems, a number of control modules that were for checking them in an emergency. It needed power...

He saw Omen push a gun locker in front of the door in X-Ray mode. The gas was getting closer...

Aleksandr tore off the control panel frame while using a wrist laser he had recently installed to spot weld together wires that had degraded. Mother had selected him for escort because he had modified himself to clear out old wrecks like this, and deal with unexpected threats while doing it.

He then used his built in Droid Source Ripper, modified for wireless operation, to hack the still salvageable panel.

The gas got ever closer...and Vode An began pumping through the ship. Aleksandr thought the song was catchy, so he began singing along to it obnoxiously.

Power came back to the ventilation system and began sucking the acid gas upward, though he made certain to have certain vents turn in to divert the gas away from this area to try and vent it into the armory. The goal was to get Omen to leave the Armory and come to him.

The diverted gas began leaking through into vents withing the armory, burning through them as it did, burning some of the fans that sucked the corrosive substance up. Given how corrosive the gas was, the ventilation system likely wouldn't last long but just enough of it would hopefully filter into his area to force him out of hiding.

Aleksandr was singing Vode An louder than the speaker system as a taunt. If Omen found a way around his vent trick then things would get really interesting and hopefully full of explosions and stabbings.

Lots of stabbings.

(Cutaway of Johnathan Harker stabbing Wo Fat in John Wick 3)

Sergeant Omen

 

[Sergeant Omen]

Well, nerf... Omen slammed his hand against the locked-out security council. No one human could have sliced through the pannel that fast. Well, maybe Aren but she was a tech wiz after all. This... thing... had to be a droid or at least a being with mechanical hacking prosthetics. Either way, Omen doubted they were the mastermind in charge of this operation and who was in the mystery ship in the hanger. As the gas started to get shucked out of the hallways and into the armory, Omen knew what he needed to do. In a straight-up drag-out fight, he may be god but whatever that thing out there was... he didn't trust getting through the front door was the best way of getting out alive. Plan B was even more... unpleasant but at least he wouldn't be dead...

Holding his breath against the toxic air, he grabbed a Z-6 rotary cannon and started blasting at the door to blind whatever this x-ray the bot was using to see in the armory. With one foot slowly after the other, he escaped from the slowly growing noxious room into a trash hatch and fell what seemed for an eternity into the dark void of the Venator.

Omen tried to remain as lifeless as possible when he hit the muddy trash-filled water with a natural big splash. He needed to make this seem as real as possible to whoever had attacked him. Never knew who was seeing through these walls Every muscle strained as he tried to stay still till he felt a tentacle grab his leg and he started to be dragged down into the deep. Never had he been so glad to be grabbed by a Dianoga before.

Laertia Io

 

[Laertia Io]

Aleksandr, if he could have smiled, would have as his trick caused Sergeant Omen to blast at the walls with a Z-6 in a desperate attempt to obscure his X-Ray vision before diving down a Trash Chute.

Aleksandr sent another command to the hacked module to withdraw the gas into the vents while it was still capable of doing so, so it could at least try and salvage some of the stuff in the armory.

It wasn't fooled. He knew ARC Troopers don't die so easily, any more than Nuetralizers did. Nuetralizers had, in fact, been partly modeled to replicate the resourcefulness and tenacity of ARC Troopers.

A metal fist easily bashed through his barricades, and Aleksandr stepped in. The module he had hacked didn't have control of the compactor as well. But there was more than one way to kill a Fett Clone...

He began searching the lockers, shaking his head sadly at all the DC Rifles that had already been damaged by the gas. Fortunately, some of the lockers and Tibanna gas cannisters had made it.

Aleksandr began taking the gas cannisters along with some blasting cord and timers he found in an explosive locker, along with an intact concussion grenade and began attaching them to each other. He had soon made a basic bomb out of the cannisters, but he tossed the active Concussion Grenade down first, to get an idea of the depth and possibly stun him, then armed his Tibanna bomb and set it for 21 seconds, right as he heard the grenade plop onto sewage, tossing the bomb down the chute.

"Yoooooohoooo, CANDYGRAM!" he shouted playfully down the chute as he watched the bomb fall...

 

[Sergeant Omen]

During the armory fight:Q stuttered as he looked through the cockpit, gazing at the Fury Class with disdain. There was only one person in the entire galaxy who was known to have a Fury class nowadays and they had their likeness plastered all over SJC territory. Darth Xiphos was here... His friend Omen had shown him a variety of bounty posters over the last few months but Xiphos with her raven black hair and crazy black eyes. The astromech wasted no time booting up the comms suite and sending out a coded message to the biggest response force available, the Fourth Fleet commanded by Admiral Gir Quee . The message, other than holding the coordinates to their location, only held two words. "Xiphos here".

Present: The Dianoga held Omen's leg tight as it slipped into one of the vent pipes underneath the volumes of trash that the compacter contained, just managing to get the clone inside before shutting the pipe off via a control panel. Ome winced, holding held his ears as he heard the concussion grenade go off in the middle of the main chamber. The singing demon really was throwing everything at them, weren't they? The makeshift firebomb exploding through the whole disposal system and shooting flame right back out of the same disposal hatch didn't disprove the theory. Once he was sure that the bombing had ceased, the Clone gently tugged at the Dianoga's tentacle and it released his leg, allowing him to float up to the water's surface and climb upon a disused vaporator. Pulling off his helmet and emptied out its contents of dirty water before peering at his new friend's eyestalk with a tired smile. "What a marvelous being you are." The soldier's eyebrows raised an eyebrow as he saw a tentacle shoot out of the water and spell out a single word, "Orry". That produced a chuckle from the old warrior. "Well, perhaps we can make a little havoc you and me. Have any other friends that could help us against the bad people who threw me into your home?" The eyestalk gave what Omen thought was a nod so he gestured to Orry to lead on and lead on the creature did, pulling the vaporator along with him. This would be one weird ride but the clone wouldn't have it any other way.

Laertia Io

 

[Gir Quee]

Union II-class Assault Carrier Unending Vigilance, somewhere in deep space

"Sir, we've detected a comms message. It's very basic, it simply says Xiphos here and gives us a coordinates."

"Send it to my console," ordered Perit.

The mon calamari's bulbous eyes glazed over the information. It didn't seem wise to immediately react on such limited information, especially from a relatively unknown source. He could only imagine the criticism leveled at him if he were to jump over there immediately only for it to be a prank or worse, an actual trap. Yet he could not ignore the possibility that Xiphos was there. And she were and he missed the opportunity to take her in for questioning, the criticism would be far worse - he might even have his command relieved. The mon calamari sighed and tapped his fingers idly on his command chair. He turned his gaze to an armored figure on the bridge.

"Captain Typhos, take a company of your soldiers and send them out on one of the NovaLifts to investigate this. Controller Roloi, I'll need a fighter squadron scrambled to escort this drop ship. If it ends up bieng nothing, we can call this a readiness training exercise. If it's a trap, get out of there immediately. But whatever it ends up being, keep me in the loop. If it's really Xiphos, she's dangerous. Understood?"

Typhos silently nodded. Minutes later, a single NovaLift loaded with Antarian Shock Marines jetted out of the ship before a squadron of Typhoon II-class Starfighters coalesced around it in a defensive formation. Within a few minutes, it would arrive on scene to investigate this unusual report.

Sergeant Omen Laertia Io

 

[Laertia Io]

Xiphos meditated in the quiet of her vessel. She could feel her son putting the screws to Sergeant Omen , and Omen doing what he could to evade him. But Aleksandr would catch up with him eventually. It was simply a matter of forcing him from hiding to properly confront him and then eliminate.

Xiphos then sensed danger. Back up had been called. She sensed the electronics of thinking machines. Not as sophisticated in thought process as a Model 1, but a decent enough attempt.

Xiphos also sensed the little Astromech that had likely sent the signal for him. To Xiphos, running a society where Droids were equal to Organics, he wasn't some piece of equipment...he was an enemy combatant.

Xiphos's ability to control and reprogram base machines was immense. An Astromech wouldn't even make her break a sweat to permanently reprogram.

She sent her will out to the machine, worming her psyche into it's circuits, it's processors, attempting to change certain coding parameters to force it to assist her whether it wanted to or not. All Droids within House Io may be equal, but any Droid outside it was fair game if hostile.

Her technopathy was extremely difficult to resist, even for HRD's

She not only attempted to permanently reprogram it, she also attempted to make it draw out Omen so Aleksandr could finish him. She did all this even as the Shock Marines were minutes from arrival.

At the same time she sent out a distress signal to her own forces.

Meanwhile...

Aleksandr in the meantime, tracking Omen through what remained of the ship sensors, had at last located a panel that controlled the compactors.

"Heh..." The Model 1 chuckled...

His Source Ripper hit that Compactor programming hard. He turned on ALL the compactors, yet opened the maintenance hatches leading out of them. Omen could yet escape, but one way or another, he wouldn't be allowed to remain in the Compactor area...



Gir Quee

 

[Sergeant Omen]

As Xiphos tried to use the force to weave into the astromech's circuits, all that happened is the whole power unit on Q shut down due to anti temper software. As soon as her will touched the droid's insides, the droid became a dead brick. Maybe with time, Xiphos would bring the droid alive again but for now, it would be no use to her.

Omen's ride slowly drifted to an end as it stopped just under a grate. Omen waited for a second, basking in the light. He had been down here in the dark for what seemed like forever even if it had only been minutes. But he didn't have time to wait. He needed to get back to his ship where he could lock himself in. Could the droid menace get in? Probably... But at least he would have all his explosives at his disposal to defend his make-shift home away from home with.

The Dianoga lifted the evaporator Omen sat upon up to the grate, letting Omen plant enough thermotape to make sure the poor grate wouldn't survive. The trooper then covered his head as the tape started to burn through the steel that prevented the clone's escape. Once the grate had been removed from play, the Trooper climbed through the new opening only to look back down into the darkness and salute. "Thanks Buddy. Now lets get these invaders out of your home."

As Omen made his way towards the hanger, Mynocks would start to sense out where the Model One is in an attempt to eat his power core. Hundreds seemed to pour out every nook and cranny, searching for fresh sources to feed off of. One of those sources just might be a shiny new Fury Interceptors engines and other vital equipment.

Gir Quee Laertia Io

 

[Gir Quee]

NovaLift-class Assault Dropship Red Three, nearing Venator-class Star Destroyer

The bulky starship lurched into realspace with the grace of a plodding bantha. Around the vessel, Typhoons began to weave around it in a complicated screening dance, just in case of any potential hostiles. Flight Officer Petonel blinked as he spotted the wedge-shaped prow of the Venator nearby. How long has been since I've seen one of those? A few people have put such craft back into service, but they're rare - maybe we can turn it into a museum ship? He set the ship's course to meet a docking port on the star destroyer's port side.

"Scans suggest it's a derelict," noted his co-pilot, "Only a handful of people onboard. Looks like maybe two active starships as well based on residual heat signatures and energy readings."

"Let's do an open broadcast," said Petonel, flicking a switch on headset to broadcast on a clear frequency, "Attention all beings within this Venator-class Star Destroyer, this is Flight Officer Petonel of the Silver Fleet. Stand by for immediate inspection and contraband check. Any use of force against us will be met with equal or greater force - you have been warned."

He flicked the button on his headset one more time, reconnecting him back to Perit on the Unending Vigiliance, "Sir, we have found what appears to be a derelict Venator-class Star Destroyer, but a handful of lifeforms appear to be onboard. No confirmation of Darth Xiphos though."

The mon calamari's voice came back loud and clear, "How interesting. Keep me informed. Does the ship seem salvageable?"

"It doesn't seem badly damaged, at least from the exterior," replied the corellian, "but I have no idea what the internals look like."

"At the very least, it's a possible space-going hazard," replied the officer, "log it, and we'll see if we can get someone out here to retrieve or destroy it."

"Understood sir. We're docking right now."

A loud metallic clank reverberated throughout the dropship as the airlocks coupled. Almost immediately, the squads of Antarian Shock Marines surged through and into the corridors beyond, using sensor data from the Red Three to move towards known signs of life and electrical activity. None of the marines were truly living in the classical sense, though they were partially made up a nonsentient beings in some of their components. Unencumbered by thoughts of self-preservation and both trained and programmed to be aggressive, the Shock Marines pushed rapidly into the vessel. Most of them advanced in pairs or trios side by side, using their wrist shields to effectively form a phalanx as they moved towards their destinations.

Sergeant Omen | Laertia Io

 

[Laertia Io]

Aleksandr detected the incoming Mynocks and set his DC Rifle to stun. The Nuetralizers killed their enemies, but one could hardly consider an animal like this an actual enemy. The Nuetralizers may be cruel but they had their limits.

Only his automatic paddle beamer built into his body and the rifle were used as he gunned down the Mynocks, calmly retreating even as they poured from every crevice, one shot knocking them out cold.

He's making a break for the hangar, Aleksandr realized. Great, his problems were worse. If Aleksandr didn't get him, Xiphos would

Xiphos meanwhile cursed her haste, having forgotten to take into account the anti tamper software. But the shock marines would have to wait.

Animal Warfare. She used similar tactics on Vjun. Definitely wasn't a Jedi. Or even a regular soldier.

Spec Ops.

He must have been a badass, considering her son had not yet killed him.

She teleported on the hull of the ship. She had been learning more about protective Sorceries from the Battalion and Countess Belasko, but she wasn't yet ready to employ those unless she felt it necessary.

She sent a quick message via telepathy to the Countess.

Mother? Xiphos called out.

Countess Arianna Belasko , clad in a spectral white gown, overseeing the Model 3 Nuetralizers and Organic Citizens of House Io unloading cargo off a captured pirate vessel, onto one of the Leviathan of Sev Tok's many hangars, tensed as she felt the mind of her adopted daughter reach out across space.

Yes, dear? What is it?

I may be in a bit of a bind here

Shall I send for aid?

I would appreciate it.

Very well, Julia...

The blond Sorceress clapped her hands drawing the attention of the Model 3 units.

"Boys! I just got a priority message from your darling mother. She's in need of assistance..."

Several Model 3's each armed with either DC-15S or EE-3 Carbines stepped forward.

"You shall accompany a flesh construct of mine to a the Venator wreck your Mother went to. Go expecting the presence of possible Galactic Alliance personnel. Plan accordingly. Our goal is to extract her..."

"At once, Advisor." one of them replied. "We have a TIE Reaper on standby..."

Arianna smiled. "I want you fully armed, and prepared by the time my construct arrives."

Arianna then departed the hangar, traversing the technogothic halls of Xiphos's infamous warship, until she reached her own private, lavishly decorated quarters.

One of her sacrifices was present, a Maw Cultist and Advanced Model 1 had captured and bound in the middle of a ritual circle with a pentagram in the center of the quarters.

Arianna smiled coldly, thinking she was about to brutally murder him, when the Light Adept hiding in her flesh never would have allowed it. She only needed his Psychic energy to have enough energy to spawn a construct.

She placed her hands on the screaming Maw Cultist, flesh bubbling and shuddering, melting and resetting constantly across her body as she drained the man until he would be comatose for the next two weeks. Arianna thought she was killing him though, so she cackled hidiously through a sagging, melted mouth as she did, then slipped off her gown, a monstrous abomination with bubbling, tumor like flesh instead of the gorgeous blond she had been moments prior, callously tossing the unconscious man from the circle as she knewlt in the center, her body starting dividing, involuntary, pig like squeals coming out of her throat as a massive mound of flesh swelled on one side, detached and fell off her, wriggling tendrils all over it's surface as Arianna stood back up, flesh resetting to normal, arcane runes appearing on the surface of her skin as she channeled the magic in her body, forcing the mound of flesh to take the form and mind of one of the personalities in her, something acquired during the mission to Zakuul...

The mound of flesh formed into a thin woman with pale skin and curly red hair, flesh also rippling horrifyingly every few seconds. Parts of her Skeleton and newly formed internal organs were still exposed, and it took a few moments for the skin to cover everything.

"What is thy bidding?" the construct of the Sorceress of Zakuul asked, flesh melting and resetting constantly.

"Xiphos requires rescuing. Assist her mechanical children in doing so and I'll be convinced of your usefulness for other operations that do not require my direct intervention..." Arianna hissed through her own melting and resetting face.

"It shall be done at once...the living now semi independent fragment of Arianna replied, heading to the armory in her quarters and selecting a long dull gray armorweave gown and vibrorapier, flesh finally setting down on the Skeleton....

The Sorceress of Zakuul (See Arianna's bio for details) was soon in the hangar bay, her Model 3 Sons heavily armed, not just with DC Carbines but shotguns with incendiary and slug ammo, they had mounted the wrist cannons of a B2 Super Battle Droid on both arms and a portable Commando Shield.

"Your mother is depending on you. Lets not disappoint..." the Sorceress said, the very image of regality as she headed up the ramp of the Reaper...

Meanwhile...

Xiphos was busy fending off the mynocks that came seeking eat her ship.

She did it by throwing her Lightsaber, SynthBreaker at them with the Non-Lethal setting on while stop it's hull, it's blade a strange all green core with a white aura, which would pass through flesh harmlessly, stunning but not killing it, scaring them off with the sound no matter how hungry they were. When that failed to dissuade others, she would generate plumes of cold flame around the craft. Not enough to cause truly injure or kill, but enough to cause pain and make them fly off. Due to the limitations of her armor's brainwave regulators, it took far more focus that was quite straining for her...

But eventually, she drove the Mynocks away, who had decided no amount of hunger was worth the hassle they were getting.

She saw Aleksandr enter the hangar bay, still fending off dozens and dozens of mynocks, gunning them down non lethally.

"Hi Mom! Listen, I think it's a Mandalorian we ran into.

"Ah. That explains it. A standard GA soldier would have been too weak to send a bunch of animals to their potential deaths." Xiphos snorted, as her son finished gunning down the last of the Mynocks, knocking them out cold.

The first of the Shock Marines then entered the hangar, spotted them both, and immediately opened fire.

Both Aleksandr and Xiphos opened fire back, Xiphos with a newly designed Assault Radiation Blaster , which would be used down the road at Panatha when Sergeant Omen went with The Mandalorians to try and destroy the Shield Generators protecting the planet. Aleksandr with his DC, now switched to Lethal settings also opened fire.

"Outta the frying pan, huh, Mother?" her son asked.

"Indeed." Xiphos replied, keeping a lookout for the Mandalorian as she sensed out the electrical signals of the HRD units, and began to use her technopathy to try and affect them, this time remembering go specifically try and sabotage any potential anti-tampering software they might have had so she could reprogram them to do as she liked. But if that didn't work, it was best to just wreck their chit as much as possible...

Gir Quee

 

[Sergeant Omen]

Omen looked on as the first of the droid and his mother started to converse from the vent system over the hanger while engaging the mynock threat. Soon, however, they would notice that the hanger had started to flood. The Mando had decided that his friends might like a day out of their dark depressing sewer home so he decide to send the whole sewer system to overflow into the hanger and then the alternate Jedi would have more than enough to deal with. As the sewer grates exploded out and plumes of dirty water drove themselves out of the new openings, the Diaolga would be ready to make their move against the pair and their craft.

With the pair thoroughly distracted, Omen closed his eyes and used the river of the force as his guide to aim at Xiphos and open fire on his target. Hopefully, the Master would be so distracted that he could take her down without much of a fight and if not... Well, he had his sword ready in that case. Either way, she was going down in not the fury of battle but a pitiful little skirmish that could have been avoided if her droid had not been so passive-aggressive in the first place.

Gir Quee , Laertia Io

 

[Laertia Io]

Xiphos continued shooting at the Shock Marines when her senses screamed of danger.

Sergeant Omen had decided to flood the place with sewage water...

Xiphos had to think fast. Very fast.

The flooding was getting worse. She was about to freeze it when she was forced to dive out of the way from sensing his blaster shot,

That's when she got tackled by a bunch of Dianoga, their tentacles and slavering jaws al trying to chew through her armor. She flung them off telekinetically, but grabbed one by its slimy tentacle and bashed away other squids that came at her, forced to teleport out of the way to avoid getting pinned down while Aleksandr spotted Omen and open fire at the Mandalorian

"A Mandalorian resorting to sewage..." Aleksandr chuckled... "How interesting. Your forebears would have shot themselves before resorting to such things...glad to see you're not as limited as they were!"

Xiphos, having teleported to the top of her ship threw out her will, turning on Ancient emergency pumping systems, bypassing and subverting anti tampering features that slowly, belatedly began to pump the water out of the hangar altering the programming to lock Omen out. What had been severe flooding before slowly allowed the water to start receding, but the place was a mess now, and Xiphos was fething PISSED.

Now the ice came. She began brutally freezing any squid that came for her, bathing them in deadly, Force Conjured cryo flames of deep blue, freezing them solid, doing her best to evade the shock marines fire. She used her technopathy lock down other entrances to the hangar to cut off the shock marines reinforcements, taking her time between shooting the ones that had already arrived and freezing solid more squid, the water slowly pumping out...

 

[Gir Quee]

The shock marines facing Laertia Io were primarily Hoplites led by a few Praetorians, both of which used entirely differently droid brains. While the Praetorians used fairly conventional droid brains which the Force user would be able to affect with some work with her powers, the Psykhe series droid brains used by the majority of shock marines were much different, using biologically-based computing to run parallel operations through non-changeable data crystals. As their opponents attempted to seal off the doors around them, they simply began to cut through them with the laser cutters built into their heavy armor.

The troops immediately facing Xiphos switched to rapid fire mode on their weapons, seeking to simply overwhelm them by sheer volume of fire. Firebolt blaster rifles and Flamestorm Blaster cannon filled the air with hundreds of ruby red bolts and the smell of burning ozone, while a few of the Hailstorm Flechette carbines present filled the air with laser guided flechette cannisters that exploded mere meters away from the cyborg and her offspring. Several of the synthetic soldiers fell to enemy fire from the radiation blasters or briefly loss their way under the flooding water, but being unliving creatures in the tradition sense, kept on fighting despite these setbacks.

Sergeant Omen

 

[Sergeant Omen]

Omen saw the droid bring his weapons to bear onto his position. It was time to bail out of his hiding hole and face the music. Kicking out the vents and doing a combat roll in the standing water. A chuckle would be heard at the droid's words before a reply would come from the trooper's helmet. "I'm bred to survive using whatever I can. The Longnecks made me that way."

He then directed his attention toward Laertia Io and made an offer she couldn't refuse. "I've heard a rumor you are very vain Laertia so we will make this interesting. I have an offer for you. One-on-one nonlethal combat between you and me. If you win, you get the ship and temporary control of the sector. If I win, you surrender to the troops which are now shooting streams of fire at you. No droids, no SJC forces or animals just you and me. Do you accept?"

As he drew his Dreadblade and prepared his combat stance, he knew his offer had many holes in it. Hell, the SJC hoplites could just charge on ahead without heeding his offer whatsoever but his offer was the best attempt at isolating the situation without it blowing up in everyone's faces. Whatever her choice, he had to charge ahead with or without an acceptance from Laerita. This was going to be a fight for the ages.

Gir Quee