Only War (open for whatever)

[Anastasia Rade]

Sia had never met the man whom considered himself the Dark Lord. She had heard things about him though and at the present time he wasn't someone the young woman particularly wished to meet. He could easily tear the young witch limb to limb without breaking a sweat. She liked challenges but not that big of a challenge all at once.

She was an oracle, she ought to have saw this coming. The Dark Lord she imagined had ways of hiding himself from even the best of seers which currently she was not. Still something so dark she would have assumed that she would have seen.

"What do you need me to do?" There was no need to question him on what they were to do. She would take his lead. Now she would truly see what he had here and what he was up to. The things he wouldn't show her. When it came to Anastasia she was very tactful and cunning.


[member="Darth Odium"][member="Mya Munro"][member="Ashin Varanin"][member="Preliat Mantis"]

 

[Preliat Mantis]

Preliat skuled along, and then stopped. Tracks in the dirt. Disrupted rocks. He crouched next to a footprint, pressing his palm into it. Heavier set into the soft earth, whoever was walking was carrying something. He looked downwards, then he began to see. Lots of footprints. Little ones. Big ones. Set around a sort of column. His face grew angry, as he stood up from the chair, and he began to follow the footsteps. He skulked, the Wolf doing what he did best- stalked. He crouched and moved low, moving quietly. Not carrying much gear at all, meant he could be very quiet.

And he began to follow the footprints, the messed rocks, the paths, and slipped on his helmet.

"I'm coming for you."

He said to no one in particular, after sauntering along, though he did not know how far he would be.

[member="Mya Munro"]

 

[Darth Odium]

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Mya Munro"] [member="Anastasia Rade"]

Odium cracked a smile that sat oddly beneath his black eyes.

"We could go to her." Odium said thinking of his options, "It could be very interesting to see how she reacts."

Odium held his comlink to his lips.

"Release the severed slaves and let them leave." he told someone on the other end before looking back to Ashin. "She is evidently not his real child but knowledge is power. What do you want for the power to hurt a god-king want-to-be?"

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Odium"] [member="Anastasia Rade"] [member="Preliat Mantis"] [member="Mya Munro"]

"Well played," she said, raising an eyebrow under the helmet. "Release the slaves and cement my situational goodwill, while keeping your options open for recapture or turning the tables on me later -- if necessary. I'll run with it. Let's go say hello to the boss's daughter."

 

[Lina Ovmar]

The village folk learned quickly. No more protests followed, yet as, the soldiers moved to herd them into the ship, Mya held up a hand. "Leave ten, secure the rest." She could feel something coming, something that brought trouble with it. A smile tugged at her lips, she lifted a comlink to her lips. "Perimeter report?"

"All quiet ma'am."

"Pull back to the landing zone. Close the gaps between your men."

"Yes ma'am."

"Ainsel," she called this time to the group that had headed for the mountains. "Abort your survey and return to the ship."

"Ma'am, we've only just started?! What reason could you possib-"

"Are you questioning my orders?"

There was silence for a moment. "No ma'am. We're on route now."

"Good, double time."

The ten slave were lined up before her. "Tie them together and strap explosives to them." She looked to the Captain as soldiers moved to obey the orders despite the shouted protests from the prisoners.

"No one is to sneak up on us Captain, if they do, it is on your head."

He snapped to attention and saluted her. "Ma'am, with all due respect, no one will be able to slip past my men."

"I hope your faith is well placed."

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Darth Odium"] [member="Preliat Mantis"] [member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Darth Odium]

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Anastasia Rade"] [member="Mya Munro"]

<<Very good, but only partially right.>> he said, <<The slaves also serve the purpose of keeping her busy rounding them up.>>

Odium grabbed his belt and saber as well as his bone necklace. Then walked toward the exit and headed straight up to find Mya and her crew.

 

[Preliat Mantis]

The gaps began to close in the patrol lines. Spaces became meters, instead of double digits. However, Preliat found himself rather...predatory today. He slinked up the side of the hill, avoiding making much or any sound at all. His first target, was a particularly mean looking guard. Preliat stood up slowly, and removed the Ori'buyce Kal knife, and grasped the man's face. Preventing any screaming, he slit his throat and threw him forward.

The other man who was watching his back heard the drop, but was too slow to ready his weapon or be prepared- especially when the knife hit him in the neck. It slammed into him, after Preliat tossed it at him. Preliat reached for his knife, yanking it out sideways and letting the man's body struggle to stay alive, after he fell to the ground. Preliat moved forward, wrapping his single hand around another guard's neck, snapping his neck with a simple, shark, diagonal movement.

He picked up one of their helmets, and activated the radio.

"You're all going down."

He stomped on the radio, and sunk back into the rocks, acting the part of the stalking wolf again. He had pounced, it was time to hunt again. To the force sensitives, there was a festering storm of rage and hatred, directed at them. Though, it was not specific, because Preliat had no real idea of who was actually there. But his deep emotional well could be felt for miles by any reasonable sensitive.

[member="Mya Munro"]

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Mya's rage was instant but it wasn't uncontrolled. To send her men chasing after the wolf was a waste of time, it would play them into his hands. She knew that voice. She knew Preliat, or rather Mia and Ordo had known Preliat. Such was they joy of having other memories.

"I want everyone in the open on this LZ NOW!" she yelled into the comm. As passing soldier slapped a trigger into her hand and she glanced at the rigged slaves. Moving over she detached a child from the fray and held him fast by the back of his neck.

"PRELIAT MANTIS!" she bellowed knowing he would be able to hear her, knowing he would recognize her voice as his precious Liberator.

"IF YOU DO NOT STAND DOWN, I WILL KILL THIS CHILD. IF YOU KILL ANOTHER OF MY MEN, I WILL KILL THIS CHILD, AND ONE SLAVE FOR EACH ONE AFTER THAT THAT DIES."

[member="Preliat Mantis"]

 

[Preliat Mantis]

Preliat stood at the ridgeline, far enough to see, but just far enough that taking shots would be risky. He removed his helmet, staring at the woman. The Liberator. Betrayal did not sting anymore. It just made him mad. He stared down at them, curling his crushgaunt adorned hands into fists.

"You don't win in this situation. You either let them all go- or you all die. Especially you."

She would know who he referred to. All things feared death, in a way. Even he did. He feared the consequences of his passing, rather than the act itself.

"Let them go and prove to me that you are stronger than taking hostages, you cowardly little snake."

[member="Mya Munro"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Odium"]

"Hm? Oh, that's because I was taking her distraction as a given anyways." She gestured vaguely at the roof of the cave with one phrik-gloved hand. "That's Preliat Mantis you feel out there. Say what you will about him, but he's earned his Field Marshal's stripes better than most Sith earned their Lordship. Your Dark Lord's daughter is in for...a real treat."

Beneath the helmet, she bared her teeth in a grin that didn't reach her eyes. "If that changes your estimation of the lay of the land, now's the time to let me know. There's enough pain around today to free up some space on my dance card, and I'm not feeling particular about who fills it."

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Perhaps, if Preliat wasn't staring at her through a haze of red he might have noticed that this 'Mia' was slightly younger, she had both her eyes and she was missing scars that would have put her up as Mia Monroe. She chuckled at his stupidity. Mya did not fear death. Reaching out in the force, she called for her father, for the Dark Lord [member="Ordo"] .

"Existence is fleeting, destruction is eternal. I do not fear death, Preliat." She grinned "He does though." she said softly, bending down to the child's ear she hissed at him to run towards the mandalorian. Then she let him go, watching him run towards the wolf. She waited until he was but five feet from the ridge before shooting him down.

"I have nothing to prove to you." she snapped her fingers and her men delivered another forcing him to kneel in front of her. Terrified eyes staring Preliats way. "Stand down, Preliat." she said again, with an almost bored tone.

[member="Preliat Mantis"]

 

[Preliat Mantis]

Preliat smirked beneath his helmet. A single hand reached for his thigh, and a single hand gripped the disruptor pistol at his thigh. Like the holomovies of old, he made the impossible shot against the more formidable enemy. He'd made harder shots on Togoria at a longer distance anyway.

And then, his gun barked, and the soldier standing to Mya's left, grew rather stiff as the round went straight into his forehead. He seemed to not care about the hostages. Only vengeance.

"I can keep going. And you have plenty to prove."

[member="Mya Munro"]

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Mya turned to look at the dead soldier to her left she blinked and then chuckled. "Its a pity you are not force sensitive, Preliat. You'd make a fabulous sith." She lifted her pistol from the back of the slaves head. And kicked him to the dirt.

"Get them on the ship." she barked at the Captain "And get us ready to leave."

A gentle command and the voduun crab armor she wore shifted to protect her head. "You want them?" she said, drawing Mia's beskad from her back. "Come and get them."

[member="Preliat Mantis"]

 

[Preliat Mantis]

The soldiers began to dwindle backwards, some out of respect for the coming combat spectacle, and others due to the orders that the woman had barked. Preliat skid down the rocky hillside, the volcanic rock giving way to the impressive weight of his Beskar'kandar. It was the highest strength of the Beskar material, and could be described as the worst thing for any opponent to come across in combat.

Preliat stared at the woman, peeling his helmet upwards for a moment, getting a good look at her face with his own eyes. He paused for a moment, setting his helmet down, and reaching down to the rock and dirt at his feet. He sprinkled some water from his water tube that lay near his mouth, and mixed it into his fingers. He dragged his fingers around his eyes, and then down to his cheekbones. War paint for the savage. How fitting.

Preliat slid his helmet back on, the process only taking a few seconds. He slid the Beskar tomahawk and the Ori'ramikad knife, turning it downwards. He twirled the Tomahawk, the black metal gleaming in the light. He took a stance that placed his knife in his dominant hand, and the tomahawk in the left hand.

"Oya, dar'jetii."

Preliat had lie awake too many nights thinking about what he could have been as a Sith to be phased by her comment.

[member="Mya Munro"]

 

[Darth Odium]

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Mya Munro"] [member="Preliat Mantis"] [member="Anastasia Rade"]


Odium smiled and began walking toward the exit his interest in who fought who was minimal at best. He watched as the former force using prisoners struggled to get out of the compound and hit a button on the wall opening the hatches out. He didn't trust the woman in the least but then he didn't really trust much of anyone. His feet made uneven sounds as the cybernetic prosthetic came down heavier than his natural limb. He needed just a while more for the items and remaining experiments to be loaded and evacuated. If the woman had an inkling of his true intentions he couldn't be sure if she would stop him or help him. The fact he couldn't factor her reaction into an viable equation made him happy to have her at arms reach rather than roaming about on her own.

<<Sia, you had better go to your brother.>> he sent her the telepathic message hoping she would be safe.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Odium"] [member="Mya Munro"] [member="Preliat Mantis"]

As they emerged from the hidden entrance to the underground facility, Ashin squinted, using the Force to enhance her eyesight -- one of the minor toolbox powers she'd chosen to reacquire this time around. She caught the face of Mia Monroe, Mandalore the Liberator, but sensed none of Monroe's power. And there were hostages and a hasty evac and Preliat Mantis about to go for it.

Maybe that was Mia Monroe, maybe it wasn't. Shapeshifter, clone, twin, these things happened. Considering Ordo had gone off the deep end, though, that could well be Monroe herself. Useful intelligence.

All she needed to know.

As she and Odium stepped through the portal, her mind touched the control, and the blast door slammed shut behind them. She whirled to the right, her leftmost phrik gauntlet aiming to grab the Nautolan Master's face and slam the back of his head into the blast door hard enough to dislocate tentacles.

 

[Ak'lya]

Silently, the Bothan watched as [member="Preliat Mantis"] took down a pair of guards. He couldn't hear the conversation between him and [member="Mya Munro"] because he viewed the scene from the scope of the Stiletto, but still. He sat on a quiet overwatch. Waiting silently for when he was required to act.

Why was he here? He had been searching for contacts, trying to find a new web after his old one splintered when he died. One contact would only help him if her daughter was rescued. And that daughter happened to be in the group being lead off.

The sergeant now in his scopes, he fired. Unless something intervened, the commander would drop with an invisible blaster bolt to the temple.

 

[Sal Katarn]

Duvain could not remember why he'd come. A pressing matter, he'd been sure, but so many matters seemed of import, now that he was off that barren ball of ice. He had only recently come out of three hundred years of isolation from the rest of the galaxy. He knew so very little about it, yet knowledge seemed to abound. He was like a vornskr torn between a hundred prey all fleeing in different directions, which did he pursue and which did he let be, if any?

The hunt for the more arcane knowledge, while ideal, was not his purpose here. Ah yes, it was all coming back to him now. He'd come to observe.

Eyes the color of volcanic pits refocused on [member="Mya Munro"] and [member="Preliat Mantis"]. A black long coat stirred around Duvain as he shifted his stance, revealing a durasteel breastplate. Yet, though girded for war, he made no move to intervene.

He simply watched, a strange, sickly aura emanating from the unlit dragon-headed saber in his hand.

 

[Darth Odium]

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

Odium heard the blast door begin to close and it did not take a genius to figure out what was coming. The woman was fast, far faster than he would have guessed. He dropped low as the woman reached for his head. His green tresses flying in the air as he moved. He turned as he dropped and felt his knee hit the ground before he brought a large fist toward the side of the woman's armored knee. He should have seen this coming and locked her in while he had her.

 

[Mornhun of House Marr]

His own screams echoed in his ears as he felt his own body writher and distort. The pain was such that had he lost his mind or his life he would have been a blessed man indeed. The his joints, skin, muscles and bones burned with infernos of pain that could not be quenched. The two hired doctors pushed him into a room where he was to rest but he pressed against the restraints with the strength of a monster now and soon a tortured hand broke free. His no pale hand reached for the nearest doctor and placed a death grip on his throat as the other ran from the room. His gurgling protest and weak blows soon subsided and he dropped to the floor while the sithspawn ripped out of his other restraints. He collapsed to the ground and howled with pain that could separate bones from marrow. His voice echoed through the rapidly clearing facility as the spawn pounded fist against the floor and fought as he body continued to change.