One Giant Step [Dominion of Ralith]

[Nikolas Faselli]

OOC: I'm sorry, if I do anything wrong. I haven't read all of the posts here yet.

Lilith listened to the Emperor. She heard him saying, that her Master and she will have to work with the group of men. Then she looked at her Master @[member="Kära Vi'dreya"] and asked: "Master, what are we going to do?" She tried to ask it as humbly as possible. She knew it was not very good to try to anger her Master. But she also hoped she won't be very angry at her today since after all, they were on a dominion. And they had to get the city of Ralith under their power.

Others seemed to be really ready, but suddenly, fear started growing in Lilith. During the time she had been a Jedi, she had heard a lot, that fear is something which brings a person to the darkness. She had always thought she had been so scared of everything, that she just had to become corrupted. Partly, she was right. But it wasn't the only thing which corrupted her. And after all, she actually liked the corruption and wanted to be a Sith. Although she was almost scared of her Master, she liked her and thought, that she will make her a great Sith one day.

 

[Judas of Vahl]

The view from inside the walker was quite the spectacle. Massive mass driver cannons and heavy lasers churned out wave after wave of crimson bolts, smashing into the opposition and their defenses. It wasn't too great, that they had to do this. Rebuilding would cost even more money, yet labor would never be an issue. These rebellious citizens would be the ones doing the work of rebuilding their crushed homes. If this transition had happened peacefully, then all would have been well and the Imperials could have easily erected defenses around the city and in it, providing security and order to the population.

And now they had to die. It was simply how things went. You fight the Empire, you get a wealth of consequences.

Another voice crackled over the com unit, @[member="Paega Anginous"] was patching through. "My dear Paega." He chided his old student. "I'd like you to accompany me with a walk through the city. We may find people of interest."

He uttered those finals words, he spun around and dropped out of the hatch on the floor of the passenger bay. The Emperor landed with a thump, his armor chinking together as he brought himself to a full posture.

 

[Judas]

@[member="Darth Arcis"]

A grey cowl draped over the obscured man knelt on the exterior of the walker the Emperor guided through the city. The centuries old Sith gazed upon the mayhem that befell the structures before him; people scattered like ants when their mounds are tossed over. The winds picked up and lasers rained from all directions. Smoke and destruction was all that was seen before the after shadows of the man sped forward in a blazing blur. He launched off the walker into a somersault, slamming onto the ground creating a shockwave of ancient dark energy causing a tremor throughout the battlefield beyond. His shimmering eyes burned with fury within the blackness of his hood as he stood slowly and planted himself firmly on the ground. He collided his fists together charging a wave of foreign dark energy. As he separated his hands with extended fingers an electrical field spiraled around his arms and with flash of his shimmering gaze he extended his arms forward creating a death field of bursting energy engulfing the fleeing inhabitants.

 

[Paige Argous]

@[member="Darth Arcis"]

Paega could barely hear the Sith Emperor's reply over the explosions that occured down the street. The canons from the AT-TT had laid complete waste on all those that had dared to oppose the Sith Empire's authority. She got the basic idea of what the Emperor was saying though, and watched as the ruler of the Empire himself dropped out from the passenger bay of his vehicle of destruction. "As you wish, my lord." she replied.

Leaping from her current spot, the blonde Sith Knight joined and greeted the Sith Emperor in the streets below. Landing softly next to her former master, Paega gave him a respectful bow as they began their walk across the city. The streets had taken a more crimson color as the blood of those that opposed the Empire were spilled across the city. From experience, the blonde knew it was only a matter of time before the city kneeled to the Empire's rule, simply out of fear.

 

[Judas of Vahl]

The battle surged on and on. The Sith Emperor could feel the tendrils of warfare swaying with the motion of combat. Those perishing, the wounded screaming out, and the spirits of each and every fighting soul on the battlefield. It felt...good. He was at home. There was no other place more suited for this man's presence that in the middle of a warzone. It was his habitat, what he was born to do and was what he would end up doing as he died. War was an invention of life, there would be no existence without quarrels or disputes. It simply wasn't logical.

As the trance died down, he found himself picking up a much stronger presence than those already assembled. @[member="Judas"] sprung forward to his right flank, his hands raging forward to send cascades of pure hell upon the enemy positions. A thin line drew across the Emperor's lips, shifting into a predatory grin. Have fun, my friend. He said, launching the message from his mind to the other's before turning his attention to the newly arrived Sith Knight at his side.

"Come, Paega, let's take this side route and see if we can't find ourselves a leader." He motioned for an alleyway to his left, turning a jog into a spring as he crossed the lines of fire with ease.

If the attack is going well, it's a trap.

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

@[member="Alexandra Shadowstalker"]

Balaya rolled her shoudlers as she stood with a sneer, Lord Kaine's punishment after her ambitious attempt had been -painful- or at the least it had been something she expected from him. The failure had laid with her apprentice and she would punish her in time, perhaps now but that was time for later. That was a time she could handle later when it was least expected. Alexandra would have a claw across her face or maybe she would finally give into her hatred and unleash the true power of her sith training. "Come apprentice."

 

[Paige Argous]

@[member="Darth Arcis"]

Oh fun, they were taking a 'side route' Paega mused to herself, igniting her lightsaber for a few seconds and deflecting incoming shots from the rebels aimed at her and the Emperor. "...and see if we can't find ourselves a leader." Listening to this, the blonde Sith Knight found herself recalling back to a few years ago at the start of her apprenticeship with Lord Lussk. She remembered clearly how her mentor had put her through an illusion, where she was a ruler and had to take out the leader of a group of angry and potentially rebellious citizens to show an example. The difference was, that had been training and that this was the real deal.

Deactivating her lightsaber, the Sith Knight lept after the Emperor towards an alley to their left, narrowly avoiding blaster fires in mid-air. The Imperial troopers that they passed by took a second to look in amazement at the Sith Emperor, who had personally joined the battlefield as another pair of boots on the ground. Following her former mentor into the alleyway, Paega took a glance around their area to see if there were any more enemies positioned near their location.

 

[Marcus Faust]

The routine which Marcus followed at this point was rather basic, ten seconds on the trigger, ten seconds off. But it seemed to easy, Faust was always more of a hands on individual. And his walker was taking damage. Blasting open the hatch, Faust leapt out of the AT-FS and into the crowd of Valen's defenders. They were taken aback by the upfront boldness, until a crimson saber ignited and began to carve it's way through their ranks. The screams filled his ears, and they only grew as a group charged towards him, and he pulled down a chunk of the ceiling on them. Deflecting bolts with ease, Faust pressed forward, bisecting and amputating those who dared travel to close to the Sith.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra nodded slowly as her master commanded her too come. The torture had been an experience she never wanted to experience again and that she would never suffer again. She straightened herself up as she walked and followed her master closely, it would be an interesting day seeing who replaced Kaine. @[member="Balaya Zambrano"]

 

[Darth Kentarch]

Arcturus waited but nothing came over the communicator. He cursed to himself, still pinned down from the heavy repeater fire coming through the windows. Glancing over to one of the stormtroopers, the Sith apprentice quickly prompted the man with a question. "You got smoke grenades?" Arcturus asked. "Cause no ones answering." The stormtrooper nodded and tossed a few out through the window. "Wait for the smoke to fill." Arcturus said holding his hand up for the soldiers to hold positions. "NOW GO!"

The Apprentice led the mad dash across the street to the next building. Despite the blinding smoke, the Sith used the force to guide him as he moved forwards, sensing the enemy and the enemy's movements. While the smoke inhibited vision, it did not stop the volley of blaster fire hound in on them. Moving forward Arcturus found himself deflecting blaster bolts in the smoke before finally making to the next building. With a lunge he tackled an enemy soldier and ran his lightsaber through the man's chest. Several Imperial stormtroopers came rushing in behind him shooting their way to the next available cover. Several fell in the street to blind and stray shots as the Imperials advanced, but that unhindered them none the less.

Arcturus gave a sharp exhale, his lungs burned, the smoke they used had begun cause his symptoms of asthma to appear. In the brief moment he was concerned with his health and enemy swung his blaster rifle at Arcturus. He took a blow to the head which knocked him clean over. The man stood above him, aiming the blaster down at him with his finger on the trigger. Snarling Arcturus lashed out, kicking at his opponent in the shin just before he could fire. The man recoiled, and the Sith jumped up sweeping his lightsaber around in a wide horizontal arc, cutting his opponent clean in half.

Taking a quick breather, the apprentice collected himself from the near death experience. The Imperial Stormtroopers had cleared the building and soon the guerrillas occupying the heavy repeater eliminated. After a few moments he climbed to the top floor of the building he was in and looked out over the city witnessing the battle. Something did not sit well in his gut, perhaps it was because he almost was iced by some irregular resistance guy with little to no combat experience. "This is not my fight." He said to himself finally. He turned away after awhile and found himself walking down the stretch of road that led back to Illenhelm.

 

[Judas of Vahl]

Darth Arcis moved swiftly through the alleyways, bobbing and weaving past strewn crates and keeping a full run in place. Though the obstacles were many, only a single though pierced his mind. Taking down the leader of any organization was the killing blow. Even more so in irregular armies such as this one. Most militias and standalone defense forces lacked an effective chain of command and couldn't efficiently adjust to officers or figures of authority being lost in combat. If this sole leader was taken out, they would win with ease. Morale and leadership were key concepts in guerrilla warfare.

Through pants of breath and his eyes darting back and forth, he called back to the Knight following him. "Paega, if you were besieged with no hope of winning in a city, where would you put yourself?"
@[member="Paega Anginous"]

 

[Marcus Faust]

He would continue with a bit of fervor, as a resistor charged forward, Marcus shot out a hand and lifted him up by his neck. Before the man could let out a scream Faust had squeezed down, breaking all the bones in his neck, killing him instantly. Tossing the corpse aside her raised up his saber in time to deflect a well placed blaster bolt, which returned to it's owner and struck him in the dead center of his forehead. Not pausing for a moment, Marcus turned on his heel and slashed open the stomach of another resistor who charged him. The man would howl in agony as his intestines spilled out of the slash and the Sith Knight continued to work.

Slowly, the numbers of locals faded as the body count rose, and the blaster fire became less frequent. Stepping over the bodies of the fallen, Marcus approached the lone survivor of the room, who lay against the wall, bleeding heavily from his stomach. He'd lost to much blood to speak, but he had enough in him to look up at Marcus with defiant eyes, one's which refused to be conquered. And all those who would not be conquered, would die as such. Without a word, Marcus deactivated his saber, placing it on his belt, and left. Leaving the man to sit and bleed.

 

[Dakil]

The walker trudged on forward throughout the city. Various smaller vehicles and walkers tromped alongside the Emperor's personal transport. Granted, he was off doing whatever he wanted to. TeeDee remembered him saying something earlier about capturing the leader or something, but the tactical droid paid no heed to his words. He had orders to demolish the opposition and that was what he was going to do.

He and his fellow pilot continued their push outwards from the center of the city. Buildings lay in shambles, infantry stormed throughout the streets, and Graug soldiers trooped on forwards to drag the citizens from their homes to round them up in the cleared courtyard. A little outpost had already been erected in the center of the city, a few squads of soldiers stood guarding the prisoners of war. A few Stormtroopers hooked up HoloCams around the area, training them on the group of prisoners.

Oh, these weren't for surveillance.

 

[Sebastian Santelli]

The S90 MAAT shook with each passing second. An armored Chiss Captain fidgeted with all the commotion, it didn't feel right not to have a clear destination in sight. At least the radar worked, a little. Only the few transports dangerously close to the gunship were visible on the scanner, if they moved a foot or two away, then the HUD would go blank with their presence. The pilots could only relay on their crew's wits and the set of coordinates they were assigned to help keep them on course.

But their task wasn't very hard. The dozen or so gunships and transports carried supplies and logistics equipment. Above all, they carried the supplies for constructing a Prefabricated Garrison Base. This would serve as a garrison for the city to house the soldiers and offer a fallback position in the event of a siege. Transports following the first wave carried more defensive constructs, most of them being Turbolaser towers and anti-air positions.

 

[Other Space Kaiden]

The buildings on the outskirts of the city collapsed as fire from walkers and mass driver cannons tore them down with tremendous force. The resulting plumes of smoke and rubble obscured the city from sight, but that did not stop the Graug. Once the large lizard-men had been riled up, they would charge off a cliff like lemmings just to kill something on the way down. Krag, who had gained much more control over his temperament since aligning with the Sith, was still in the middle of the large Graug horde that thundered across the planet's surface and into the city. Before the defenders even realized how close the Graug Army was, they were being torn apart by storms of blaster and slug fire.

Krag deflected two bolts of energy away from his body, ending his defensive swings with a burst of flame from his hand. The fire washed over the attacking militaman, causing him to shriek in pain as his flesh boiled off of his bones and he fell into a dying pile. "Tear them from their homes! Drag them through the streets! Show no mercy!"

 

[Kiyala Demont`]

Kiyala had been simply watching her apprentice from afar. As she walked with nimble steps through the streets more often then not redirecting a blaster bolt back into itself owners head. She had little time for distractions as she watched as her apprentice attempted to take a leadership role over a group of Storm Troopers. And for the most part he did quite well, but however Kiyala had noticed how close he had came to dying. And after he dealt with his foe is when she began her approach, her aura completely cloaked so unless he just happened to look her way her approach would not make the slightest tremor in the force.

As she would grow closer; she would finally speak saying "Try to stay alive would you dear? I can't have my new apprentice dying on me so soon can I. Come apprentice there is more then one way to take down a city. You want your first magic lesson, well here it comes" She intended to teach him the basics of battle meditation, she normally taught her students how to block their minds first but he was not a weak minded person so she didn't have to rush that lesson. Armored by her Rancor Armor Mark 2, she drew her eyes to a nearby rooftop and with a seemingly light step she began to leap bounding from roof-top to roof top as she gained a much elevated view of the city.

This also would test her apprentice's agility as if he were to ever make it through her physical training he'd have to be quite agile.

@Arcturus Procyon

 

[Marcus Faust]

Striding through the streets, Marcus was cold and emotionless, the carnage bothered him little, unless it was his men blown to bits on the ground, then it bothered him greatly, driving him to nearly let his anger off it's chain and go wild. The insolent rebels and their futile attempt at resistance was beyond pointless. It lead to nothing but pain and bloodshed, and he loathed them for that. He would make them pay.

 

[Dakil]

More and more bloodshed was set forth before the tactical droid's walker. It was a wonder these rebels hadn't all given up just yet. The mechanical monsters stomping through the streets, the legions of infantry sweeping each intact building. Perhaps these insurgents had something up their sleeve...

 

[Paige Argous]

@[member="Darth Arcis"]

Paega would move as quickly as possible to keep pace with the Emperor, jumping over and weaving past crates here and there that littered the alley. Nearby blaster fires could be heard being exchanged between the local militia and the Imperial military as they made the pair made their way through the alleyways. When asked by the Emperor where she would put herself if she had been besieged within a city, Paega was tempted to turn and ask him if he had any idea on where they were going. But ofcourse she didn't, and gave a few seconds of hesitation to think before making a reply to her emperor.

"If I were in such a situation, my lord, I would have positioned myself and a good portion of my troops to lead an ambush from the sides at enemy forces." she replied. Paega didn't know how this particular militia leader's mind worked, but she knew that that would've been what she would've done in such a situation herself so as to take out as maximum number of enemy troops as possible by attacking when the enemy were thinking they'd won.

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

@[member="Alexandra Shadowstalker"]

Balaya gave a nod as she moved with Alex and went towards the city and secured her cloak. There was much to be said for what they were going to be doing and she pulled the large sword from behind her back as she spoke. "How are you feeling now Alexandra? Are you prepared to show all that pain and inflict it upon others? Are you ready to tear into the enemies of the empire?"