Moross Crusade Dominion of Yuuzhan'tar

[Vanir]

"Welcome, respect, maybe even love my abilities... But they will never be my family. The Republic killed my family fifteen years ago. My only family is Aurum. My most loyal of children. My flock are like my acolytes, but Aurum... is the closest thing I have to a blood relation."

I smiled over my shoulder at [member="Loxa Visl"].

"My words are blasphemy upon the gods of your Crusade, but they are the truest words I have ever spoken. My first son was killed. Agamemnon. The Republic murderers. They sent explorers to my palace, and I fed and clothed them. Gave them all the comforts of a modern life. But one day, they hunted and caught my Agamemnon. They burned him, and the cities heard his death throes for a week. Aurum was no longer a baby by then, and he killed them himself. And then... they killed them all. Nothing was left alive. Only the trees and ruins left witness to any sort of modern presence."

My face hardened.

"What did these people do, that I am ordered to enact 'divine retribution' upon them? What could they possibly have done, that delays us from hunting and killing every Senator and beaureaucrat of the Republic? What, my lady?"

 

[Crystal]

@Morrigan [member="Loxa Visl"]

Crystal entered just in time to see an insane number of birds for such a small ship. “Birds…” she muttered to herself. “Talking birds…” She shook her head as though shaking away cob webs. The Sith Princess stepped closer. “Welcome. I think….” She said, narrowing her eyes.

A new acolyte. She didn’t make a habit of trying to scare them away as soon as they arrived, but having this many animals in her presence was chaotic. And Crystal knew Chaos. But bird poop was not the kind of chaos that she enjoyed. “Let’s keep the birds away from the controls, hmm?” She suggested with her signature head tilt.

 

[Blackthorne]

"Your battle is a personal one," Loxa replied steadily, eyes training upon that of Yuuzhan'tar as it grew ever larger in the viewport of the command deck, "one that you place beneath the will of the Aesirs. The whole of the Crusade is your family now, should you choose to accept it or not. You have chosen to join us, it is know, and so it shall be."

A bare glance was given to Crusader Carter as she arrived, wane smile training on the Sith's words before returning to @Morrigan.

"One day, when you have proven your loyalty and worth to the Gods, they may bless you with the power to exact the retribution you desire. But for now, Acolyte, it is not your place to question the will of the Gods. Nor is it mine. It is our place to see it through, for we owe them our lives. Namasté, Priestess Crystal."

 

[Vanir]

"Let's get cracking, I guess. Aurum?"

Aurum flew up to the Sith Princess, and decided he should show off his talent.

Hi there. I'm Aurum. What do you command my Queen to do? And why do you call her 'Acolyte'? I am her acolyte.

[member="Loxa Visl"] [member="Crystal"]

 

[Crystal]

@Morrigan [member="Loxa Visl"]

Crystal lowered her chin in greeting to Loxa “Namaste.”

She narrowed her eyes as one of the birds, called Aurum flew to her. And spoke to her. Just as she suspected. Talking birds…

“Aurum,” she repeated aloud. And then she responded telepathically to the creature. “I do not command your queen. The Gods command. We carry out those commands. The Gods call those that have not yet proved their dedication to the Pantheon acolytes. Both of you must prove your worth to the Gods.”

She turned to Loxa. “Do we know what we’re expecting when we arrive? Or is this another fun surprise?” No, she didn’t particularly enjoy surprises. But she could roll with it.

 

[Vascious Relens]

[SIZE=14.4444446563721px]The dropship Vascious inhabited rocked and shuddered from flak fire. They had already made it successfully through the atmosphere, but the ground was still a ways off. The Aesir reached out with his mind to touch upon his surroundings at great distance. The enemy couldn't be sensed in the normal thought of the word, but it was the void of the force itself that he focused on. With adaptation even the Vong could not hide from him .[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.4444446563721px]There were heavy defenses around the enormous cannon to the south that had taken out one of his capital ships. Not far from there was a ridge in the topology of the land that held a few anti-aircraft towers. To the east was the disruption of Cameron's flashy entrance. It appeared that the old man still had it. [/SIZE]Hopefully[SIZE=14.4444446563721px] Relens could say the same before this was over.[/SIZE]

His ship was quickly heading toward the LZ Siara was securing when he walked over a few steps to place a hand on the pilot's shoulder.

"Make a single pass on that ridge. Keep the ship low and keep your speed up. Then we land," spoke the Aesir before turning and making his way the few steps back into the troop hold. Kalee opened the side door on the dropship and looked out over the flowing terrain as the wind buffeted back his cloak violently.

"It is good that you have accompanied me, Crusader Distorith. This mortal shell is well equipped for battling the Vong's resistance to the force, but the process will be taxing," added the Mandalorian as arcs of beautiful force lightning energy started to travel across his metal plate armor randomly.

He stood at the side of the ship and raised his hands with palms facing inward. The energy that sparked around his plate armor began to accumulate between his palms. That built up energy then lashed out in one large arc as the first anti-aircraft tower came into view. The structure exploded as two more lightning bolts quickly struck the next two targets soon after. Thunderous roars echoed into the ship from the strikes, but the ships sudden lurch was due to anti-aircraft fire taking out one of their engines.

There wouldn't be another pass, but he didn't plan on it. Now they were quickly heading for Siara's landing zone.

"Let's see how that new armor of yours performs."

 

[Siara Vorru]

As the ‘gods’ of Moross started to arrive they made their arrival quite obvious and flashy, it was all for show to intimidate the locals and inspire the soldiers of the crusade. It had no effect on Siara but the men and women around here were certainly inspired. They found the strength for a final push to secure the landing zone. It was already quite sizable but to bring in the heavy equipment they would need a large zone. They had some old walkers to land and each of them was valued at enough that they wanted to ensure the transports that were bringing them in at least made it to the landing zone securely. If the Soldiers of the Crusade secured a large enough landing zone it would open a hole in the flak defense that was being fired up into the atmosphere to keep those landing to a minimum.

Seeing Kalee’s vessel approaching she saw arcs of lightning hit the ridge above them exploding something large in the distance. Adjusting her viewfinder Siara zoomed in on the chaos the ‘god’ had created up on the ridge, it had been a point of contention for the Vong and the Morossian soldiers since the landing had commenced and the Vong had held that ground the entire time because they had the advantage of the high ground. She hadn’t been able to get anything organized to properly assault that flank, all she could do was continue to throw soldiers at it to hold it the enemy was keeping them busy on every front. That was likely to change now, Kalee had caused quite the disturbance on the ridge and now was the time to press the advantage.

“Your gods have joined us, it is time to show them what you can do, I want that ridge in our control before Kalee’s vessel lands.” Siara ordered glancing at the Chiss acolyte that was amongst them all cutting a swath of death through the lines of the Vong. “Acolyte Asylen will lead the assault up the ridge, take four squads up the center and leave none of the non-believers alive, your god demands they be sacrificed.”

Focusing her efforts on the rest of the fronts the Kiffar Deimos sent more soldiers to other fronts as they arrived to expand the landing zone further. Once they had brought in the heavy equipment they would be able to press on some of the nearby strongholds that dotted the surface around them.

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

So focused on killing the enemy Asylen barely noticed how far outside the Morossian lines she was actually pressing. She was surrounded by enemies who wanted nothing more than to bring one of those gifted by the gods of Moross to heel. They were all intent on seeing her injured or dead but she was faster than any of them so far. They had managed to bruise her a little but the Sith Acolyte drew on a deep well of rage and fear as she pressed herself beyond any of the limits she had ever reached before. The battle was taking its toll on her but she had much more to give to Ithari, her god would bathe in the blood of the non-believers today and she would ensure that no single soldier or officer contributed more to her god than she today.

Swinging her lightsaber around to catch a Vong’s Amphistaff on her lightsaber the vicious weapon converted from solid a more pliable shape that threated to wrap around her saber and disarm the Chiss. Ashra’syle’nuruodo dropped low and swung her foot into the ankles of the Vong that was trying to attack her bringing him down on his back his Amphistaff going with him. She was up and on him before he could move finding a gap in his armor she pressed her blaster into it and unloaded enough energy into him to kill the Vong. His amphistaff slithered away just as another Vong moved in to attack, he didn’t even get the opportunity to swing before the attention of all of them was drawn up the ridge behind them where Kalee had just unleashed a torrent of lightning into those reinforcing the Vong.

The Vong began retreating the one that had been about to attack her not even getting that opportunity as she grabbed and twisted him to the ground straddling him and unloading charric fire into a gap in his armor causing him and it to go limp below her. She stood covered in the blood of her enemies and dripping with her own sweat. Asylen heard the orders from the Deimos, normally she wouldn’t follow orders from the Kiffar mercenary but she saw the benefit of doing so. She watched the squads assigned to her start to approach cautiously at first.

“Move it, no time to waste, Kalee has shown us where we should be. The explosions on the ridge are a sign of Morossian might. It is time for us to prove it, double time up the ridge.” Asylen ordered as she led the charge up the side of the ridge. She had more sacrifices to make to Ithari and she would ensure that the majority of them were of the infidels that tried to hold the ridge above them despite their disorganization after the assault from Kalee.

Reaching the top of the ridge the Chiss spotted the Vong trying to organize but the Crusaders were on them too quickly. The ridge was soon flowing freely with the blood of the Vong that were foolish enough to try and hold their position against the unrelenting waves of Asylen’s forces. For her own part she played cleanup, finding those not fortunate enough to die in the initial assault and sacrificing them to Ithari with a small dagger from her boot.

 

[Vanir]

"We're letting them have all the fun, then? Oh, boo."

I looked around at the Sith Princess, and the Master Visl.

"Seriously, aren't we gonna go down and attack or something? I want to see how these Yuuzahn Vong fight."

[member="Crystal"]
[member="Loxa Visl"]

 

[Blackthorne]

"Patience, Acolyte," Loxa intoned softly, "we will join our brethren on the battlefield soon enough. But not there," the Priestess indicated an area on a holomap displaying the planetoid below.

"Here," a tap of deft fingers zoomed the screen in on a structure three miles south of Siara Vorru's LZ, "a temple complex. A hall of worship of their false Gods. That is where we travel. We will find the religious leaders there...and their Yammosk."

"Stewardess Visl, we are breaching the atmosphere now. Vong forces have already moved to engage our descent, I recommend heading to the dropships and preparing for launch."

"Thank you Captain," Loxa nodded before turning to [member="Crystal"] and [member="Morrigan"], "to the dropships, then. Crusader Carter, please lead the way."

 

[He who walks behind]

Standing atop a hill looking down at the carnage a simple black robbed figure loomed in the distance of it all. With a scabbard at his side and a shining sith sword within the tall figure simply stood tilting his head to the side as the fires raged and both crusaders and Yuuzhan Vong died. As the breeze fluttered past him the wind nipped at his robe bellow causing it to sway slightly in the wind. "By your name, it shall be done." The man said in a thick Vong accent. Stepping down from the hill slowly the darkened figure reached down and gripped the hilt of his blade wrapping his armored fingertips around it in a tight embrace. What he was about to do was not for him but that of a higher purpose for the true beings of immortality.

As the robed figure stepped closer and closer to the Yuuzhan Vong forces that were engaging the crusaders he quickly drew his blade and with a fowl swoop, lopped off the head of a black clad Yuuzhan Vong warrior. His presence was that of a shadow in this warzone, a specter to bring death. the Vong had taken various positions up around to defend their home planet and the man had been around that of a few warriors who were firing upon the crusaders. Quickly grabbing another Yuuzhan Vong warrior the bring of darkness dragged the warrior into the shadow of darkened monstrosity that was a once living building. Screams now inhabited the dead structure as the phantom's silohette appeared in the window, black blood staining his gloves as he stared quietly and softly at [member="Siara Vorru"] watching the young child at work.

 

[Crystal]

@Morrigan [member="Loxa Visl"]

Crystal nodded to Loxa and Morrigan before moving toward the bay. Drop ships. Not her favorite method of travel. More often than not, she found herself jumping out of them, or onto them in a hurry. And since they already had company coming, it seemed to be a jumping out of them situation.

“Perhaps your winged companions can serve as a suitable distraction while we make our descent,” the Priestess suggested as she climbed aboard the drop ship.

 

[Vascious Relens]

Kalee's dropship approached the ground with a trail of smoke behind from its faltering engine. The ship was still operable, but it wouldn't take any more damage safely.

The Aesir stepped off of its metallic platform and onto the ground. He didn't take two steps before turning and grabbing the shoulder of the intelligence officer next to him. "Has Cronos Est landed yet?"

"No, my Aesir. Cronos Est, Cronos Lasranae, and Atlas Ferald are all flagged as MIA upon atmosphere entry. Deimos Vorru has tactical command of this theater now currently. Should I reroute Cronos Kathka here?"

Two generals and an admiral possibly dead in the first hours? The cost was adding up quickly, but every commander knew not to disrupt the contingency of the chain of command lest they cause more harm to the operation. "No," came Vascious simple response as he spotted Siara directing troop movements nearby. There was already a platoon trying to take the ridge in the distance. He'd waste no time imparting the news.

"Field promotion Deimos Vorru. Est, Lasranae, and Ferald are dead. Take that ridge and disable that canon. You've got reaper operatives behind the enemy lines, artillery, tanks, and bombers from the mechanized legion on it's way to be at your disposal. It's time to earn your pay." The Mandalorian didn't wait for a response. Instead he just gave the much smaller woman a hearty slap on the shoulder and was already moving again towards the direction of Ashra'syle'nuruodo's platoon on the ridge.

As he ran, Relens noticed the presence of his adopted son, Piraiba. The Togorian was not where he was supposed to be. This agitated the old man. Piraiba had a lot of heart, but his simple ways tended to get in the way of a planned out operation. There was no point to stop for a lecture. Instead he simply sent his frustration and instructions telepathically.

 

[Piraiba]

Piraiba's dropship landed fairly uneventfully. If there were real gods in the universe, they were amazingly merciful today.

It took a few moments as the Togorian fought with his makeshift seatbelt before finally just cutting it off. All of the soldiers and Ashra'syle'nuruodo had already exited the ship. He almost had made his way down the ramp himself before realizing that almost all of his weapons had been left in the crashing Ithari Swarm Frigate.

The feline quickly tried to scavenge around the dropship for heavy weapons, but all he could find was a couple carbines and sidearms. The 800 pound beast would have been more effective throwing rocks then trying to operate either one of those weapons. Sometimes it wasn't easy being the elephant in the crusade.

Then a telepathic message caused a grimace on his face. Father was nearby and disappointed in him. That hurt more than a Vong's amphistaff could possibly hurt.

Abandoning his search for weapons, the feline moved to the front of the dropship and ducked into the cockpit. There he used one of his claws to quickly scratch the coordinates in his head into the dashboard of the ship.

"Piraiba must go here. Fa...Kalee wills it of this one."

[SIZE=14.4444446563721px]The dropship lifted off and started to head towards a temple that was roughly three miles south of where they had landed. Piraiba only knew that he had to help bring down the Vong leadership that congregated there. Hopefully military [/SIZE]intelligence[SIZE=14.4444446563721px] didn't fail this time. [/SIZE]

 

[He who walks behind]

Tilting his head to the right the black shrouded figure stepped forward and out of the view of the young girl. Keeping his sword drawn he dropped it to his side as he stepped out onto the field once more. Letting the blade's tip hit the dirt bellow him, the dark one began to let it drag across the dirt. Taking more steps forward bombs, blaster fire, and bio weapon munitions flew over the head of the man. Unshooken by this the figure continued to walk and step forward through the fray dead biodiesel flew in front of him from both crusaders and Yuuzhan Vong struck down in the midst of battle. The dark side oozed from him every step taken was an insult to the light and what it had stood for. He cared not for the lives lost here, he only cared for what his purpose was here. And what that was, well not everything would be given away so easily.

Stepping in front of him a crusader trooper lost in the middle of battle looked to the figure and before he could raise his rifle or speak the specter quickly grabbed the woman by the throat. With almost a deathly howl the talons upon the hands of shade were stained red as he politely removed her throat from the rest of her body. Letting the woman give her final death gurgle the shade simply kept walking in a large circle letting his blade run across the ground. No words came from him, no emotion, only focus upon the task.

Proceeding further in his circle he was knocked off balance by a bomb exploding to his right. As his black blood stained the ground the shade buckled and quickly came about to continue his task of drawing lines in the sand

 

[Siara Vorru]

Noticing the presence of a dark shade circling the battlefield killing Vong and Crusaders alike Siara didn’t have much time to put thought into it. He was an unknown on the battlefield which was dangerous to everyone but she couldn’t spare the soldiers to deal with him right now. Her armor taking a hit from a Vong bioweapon the Kiffar woman grunted and glared into the distance where Vong warriors were firing thud bugs into the lines of the Crusaders one having squeezed through and damaging her armor. Her attention was now back on the task at hand, the thud bug serving only as a reminder of what mattered right now.

“Take care of those launchers, press forward and put the dogs down!” Siara ordered, the rest of the lines were pressing outwards the landing zone expanding to the point that it was ready to receive heavier weapons. Taking her weapon off her shoulder for the first time the woman steadied it carefully, the relatively new high powered slug thrower was certainly enough power to punch through Vong Vonduun Crab armor. She fired one of the enemies firing thud bugs collapsing in the distance in a satisfying fashion.

Grumbling to herself as her attention was drawn elsewhere, another front was being assaulted by the zealous Vong who were quite insistent that the soldiers of the Crusade were not going to take this world. Siara would much rather be in the thick of it all with the other soldiers, leading from the rear of the ranks was an unfamiliar task for her, one she was well suited to but still not comfortable. As it stood she couldn’t afford to commit to any one front as this was her theater to command. That fact was only reinforced by the approach of [member="Vascious Relens"] who made a point of giving her a field promotion because a great deal of the Crusade command structure brought to invade this world were missing. She didn’t have time to reply that she would need greater compensation for greater responsibility that could be arranged after the battle had come to some sort of conclusion. She nearly fell over as the much bigger man gave her a firm smack on the shoulder before departing up the ridge apparently to join the fight on that front.

“Acolyte Asylen that flak needs to be disabled or captured is preventing us bringing in tanks, walkers and artillery.” Siara instructed over the comms to the Chiss and her squads as she glanced at the data readout on her HUD. “You have ten minutes before the first landers will be arriving with mechanised reinforcements that is your timeframe.”

Glancing around the battlefield she spotted the shade circling, sketching something into the earth she wondered what he was up to but again her focus was drawn elsewhere as their lines started to bulge outwards in the center threatening to let the enemy encircle that part of the line and cut it off. She redirected troops to compensate. Siara felt the exhilaration of command, controlling the fate of so many at once was a powerful sensation.

[member="He who walks behind"]

 

[Sal Katarn]

A surge of power. A warp in the fabric of reality.

A black leather boot emerged from thin air, swiftly followed by a tall humanoid figure, all in black. Heavy boots crunched against the ground and he stood to his full height, surveying the area with red eyes and an expression of half-interest, half-disdainful apathy on ash hued features. Broad of shoulder and quite tall, he did not appear to be human. A thick sable long coat stretched down past his knees. Beneath it glinted hints of a dull grey breastplate. Lengthy white hair hung below his shoulders and gusted about in the faux-breezes of passing repulsorcraft and shuttles as they swarmed over and around. Fingers, more like claws, tightened around the long, black cylinder of a lightsaber. A bronze dragon's gaping jaws formed the emitter head. The pulsing taint of the Dark Side swarmed about him, a noxious fume enough to cause any nearby stomach unease.

He looked right, then left, expression unchanging.

"Interesting."

The Hybrid strode down the ridge, heedless of the blaster-fire that swarmed around him, and toward a downed Morossian shuttle, where a figure stood whose armor he recognized hazily, as if from another life.

[member="Vascious Relens"]

 

[Vanir]

@Crystal @Loxa Visl

"There's no birds that I can sense on the planet, at least the area we're aiming at. Think of a dark place in the Force... Like a... ysalmir, are they called? Like a ysalmir. That's what this Vong land is like to the birds. The enter, and die. So, I don't have any feathered friends to call on, and I'm not sending the ones in the ship out until we hit the atmosphere."

I grinned crookedly.

"But, I can cause some confusion when we break through, if you open the hatch for me. I wonder what fifty-odd birds can do to one's concentration and aim..."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael craned his neck as he watched through the viewport of the ship. His eyes scanned the planets surface, and his ears perked up slightly as he heard reports from the surface below. His lips curled into a frown, his mask shifting on his face slightly as his head moved to the side slightly. The False God turned his eyes from the viewport, shifting to readouts from the fleet battle. He studied the readouts for a while, his lips turning into more of a scowl.

He did not like what he saw.

The Yuuzhan Vong didn't exactly outnumber them, but the Moross fleet was hardly at an advantage, not something the False God liked. Soliael turned to one of his acolytes aboard his ship, the orange and black cloak he wore signaled him as such. “Prepare the Vali.”

“My Lord?”

The man gave Neth the Keeper a questioning look, but Soliaels anger did not flare.

Instead he simply walked past the diminutive man, walking to the turbo-lift and shooting down towards the Hangar. He knew that his orders would be followed, the Vali would be waiting for him in the Hangar bay, along with a ship.

He intended to set the odds in their favor.

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

Watching as another Vong in front of her died slowly Asylen didn’t care what the rest of the troopers were doing they had taken the ridge and were advancing on the Vong with haste she was more interested just spilling blood, she wasn’t responsible for the lives of these soldiers. She slid her dagger slowly across the throat of the Vong and stood smirking as the message from Deimos Vorru came through. She wasn’t overly impressed with the other woman trying to give her commands but it would give her the opportunity to kill more Vong so she didn’t care.

Running up the rest of the ridge to get a better look at the flak cannon ahead, it was still firing into the atmosphere, presumably at the incoming Morossian shuttles. Drawing on her rage she started down towards the cannon slowly, every step closer she seemed to find another Vong willing to die by her blades she was happy to oblige each one of them but the cause needed to advance, they needed to press forward on the Vong cannon.

Another step, another Vong engaging her she sidestepped and stabbed the Vong through the neck with her dagger, he swung at her bleeding all over her as he collapsed to the ground. Loyal crusaders were advancing with her, every inch was a battle, every foot felt like a war. Both sides were intent on having this world, they both fought vigorously for their gods but the gods of the Vong had abandoned them while the Gods of Moross joined their followers on this battlefield. Ashra’syle’nuruodo jumped over another Vong landing on the one behind him and wrestling the larger being to the ground slamming a dagger into the gap in his armor and twisting while the Vong below her faced the judgement of the gods of Moross. It was by their judgement that this enemy was unworthy of any respect, this enemy would be slaughtered wholesale.

Reaching the cannon the Moross forces set charges quickly other soldiers kept the advancing Vong in check keeping them back. Ashra’syle’nuruodo killed yet another enemy and rose to face another one. It was becoming repetitive but it didn’t take long for the charges to be set. “Blow the charges and fall back to the ridge, we will slaughter these dogs from there.”