Phrik It (Sith Assassins)

[Darth Ferus]

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Gromas 16​

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There was only one reason anyone would go to this red moon. Phrik. And yet, the red man was here for more than just that. The Dark Trooper program started on this desolate world, and Darth Ferus was here for that reason. Aboard his own ship the Sith would glance behind him to [member="Iziz Vei"] and [member="Tain Organa"] , two of the Assassins that had come to join. They had yet to reach the planet, but now was time to simply discuss the plans.

Turning in his seat to look to the two acolytes, both of the red mans hands would slip behind his head. "The primary objective is to secure Phrik. Within the old workshop there are still crates to be obtained and used. The secondary, obtain any plans to the original dark trooper plans. This place is ancient, so be wary that it could collapse on us. Or that something else could have moved in." What, he did not know. But it would be good to keep all of them on edge. "Questions?"

 

[H3xle]

Turning in her seat to look to the two acolytes, both of the red mans hands would slip behind her head. "The primary objective is to secure Phrik. Within the old workshop there are still crates to be obtained and used. The secondary, obtain any plans to the original dark trooper plans. This place is ancient, so be wary that it could collapse on us. Or that something else could have moved in." What, she did not know. But it would be good to keep all of them on edge. "Questions?"

Tain looked to the Jawa sitting near her for a moment, then back to [member="Darth Ferus"].

"What type of predators or enemies are possible?" Tain asked in a voice that was just loud enough to hear. Getting the phrik loaded shouldn't be an issue, finding plans should be only minimally harder. Thus, the complicating factor would likely be combat. Tain enjoyed the combat, it cleared her head. Shedding blood, while not the most important thing to her by a long shot, always soothed her in ways that had chilled her at first.

[member="iziz vei"]

 

[Iziz]

Iziz had casually and somewhat incandescently wondered onto the ship in wich [member="Darth Ferus"] as well as [member="Tain Organa"] were calmly stationed... The two of them there were known to be formidable people, so much so that Iziz was becoming somewhat shocked by the amount of exposure that Ferus had within the order of enigmatic assassins. It had been just as many weeks now since the corporate takeover, and Iziz had been on two missions with the herculean force user... cocking his head sideways as Darth Ferus he spoke, Iziz began to think about the kind of things that they could be potentially meeting on Gromas 16. The moon itself was more than likely deserted, and would have been for a long time, other than perhaps the more learned thieves which knew of the Phrik there... however, the dark-trooper project was something which all of them should have been afraid of, who-ever held the plans for the Dark-trooper program could potentially turn the tide of battles, one after the other until even the tide of a war could have been changed. A project like that... even Iziz began to question whether or not the Sith had a right to its possession, rather than it's destruction, though, such thoughts were quickly cast from his mind, remembering that the more blatantly resistance was crushed, the greater the potential reign of peace that followed, and it was all about picking the winning side, and helping them push even harder. As the party soared through ephemeral seas of starlight in hyperspace, Iziz had but a single and important question on his mind, one which he thought that Tain might have on theirs as well... So, moving to his data-pad, he began to write once again, typing furiously as it seemed he had more to say than usual, in the last few days however he had managed to find a tool on the datapad which allows it to speak in place of you, like reading words aloud... useful for an entity like the Jawa to communicate, but, would be just as useless in a noisy room... Pressing the voice button, he looked up at the other two, hoping to convey his actions in a befitting manner, holding his data-pad upright between them so they would be able to hear it.

"So, what do we do if Dark Soldiers are traps? There were many Dark Soldiers in there once, some stronger than others but many all the same, I would not be surprised if there were more hiding old, very old..."

The soldiers referred to the troopers, though Jawanese, unfortunately, did not directly translate to common, but, it seemed that Iziz's language skills over time were getting progressively better, his bright, bio-luminescent amber eyes moved from one of them to the other, knowing that he could more than likely take down a number of these droids, he would not be able to do away with many of them. Phrik was strong enough to take and deflect blows from lightsabers, but it was not strong enough to soak a direct plunge of the plasma-blade, a feat which even the most potent of blast doors was not able to achieve on its own, not to mention that the phrik alloy was only employed as the armour plating of the droids, there was more than enough room for jedi to be able to beat them one on one, but, in a concentrated number, they were unbeatable, and there was more phrik here to enable a faction to create an army of the droids if they wanted to... Typing another sentence after the first was answered, he looked to the other apprentice, unsure of this person's powers and abilities he looked them up and down quizzically, reaching out with the force in an attempt to sense his greater potential, though, not feeling much, whether it be by Iziz's inability to aptly sense power yet, or that there may not be enough to sense, he asked;

"I am Iziz, I'm fast, good with light sword, very good at hiding... what are you good for? Must work as team, yes?"

The intention behind the sentence to relay that Iziz was primarily a speed based duelist, attempting to reveal some of his own skill-set so that the apprentice would be able to know how Iziz was able to support him in battle, if the need arose, though, with saying he was fast, he was somewhat understating his capabilities when it came to movement and agility, vastly outclassing other land mammals yet alone people in short bursts. Following up, he hoped that the apprentice would in turn reveal some of his own skill set, so that together, as a team they would be able to develop synnergy, and overcome the obstacles in their way with an increased level of efficiency. Though, somewhere within the somewhat young, and inexperienced Sith Jawa, there was a great disapproval within him, one which seemed to infer that giving any information away to his allies was a bad idea... that, information about you, no matter who it is given to, is a liability, a potential traitor, that people leave and betray the sith order all of the time, that apprentices end the lives of their masters with the knowledge they gain of them. Information about one's self was sacred, like water, it was only wasted when it was shared...

Orphen thought about this...

Information is like water... it is only wasted when it is shared...

They were words to live by, as a Sith, underestimation, though Iziz hated it, was something which he had to live with for some time... he began to wonder why he always attempted to flaunt his power in combat situations, why did he feel like he needed to prove himself? Would it not be more advantageous to feign weakness, to hide his true potential from everyone but himself, allow the world to see him as the fragile Jawa merely playing at being a sith... ... ... With all the inward monologue, Iziz began to feel the presence within him stretch, and grow, like a fire begining to spread through his veins as he began to focus on this philosophy, until he suddenly became aware of it, shaking his head to free himself of the thoughts, no doubt to the confusion of those around him, looking to and fro, he hoped that the others were not too set back by his actions, seeming to shake at random.

He would be more mindful to hide his strengths... but feigning weakness...? only to his enemies.

 

[Darth Ferus]

"Rodents, scavengers. More annoyances than real threats." Ferus answered [member="Tain Organa"] first, nodding once. A simple question with a simple answer. He would slowly fold his fingers together, knitting them behind his head. In truth he knew little on Tain, and even far less on the Jawa, [member="Iziz Vei"] . He had picked them both up from the Assassin academy, both apprentices. Part of this was training, believe it or not, and he had several things he planned to show them. Yet as the Jawa spoke, his thoughts actually worried the Sith Lord. He was correct in that there could be still remnants, but thinking to it the Zabrak quickly pushed the thoughts to the back of his head.

"I doubt any of the phase one Dark Troopers will be left. The Empire took many, if not all, of the droids away for the phase two. Any left will be little in number. But they are going to be very, very dangerous. We'll stick together for now. As another note, once we find the Phrik disposite, I'll be sending a message to [member="Darth Arcanix"] to bring in mining ships and take the Phrik itself away. Once that happens, we're to find the Phase One notes on the DTs. Understood?" Blue eyes looked between the two. This Dark Trooper project was terrifying, but the Empire of old had taken them in the wrong direction. Bigger, covered in armor, utilizing more weaponry. It was a waste in the Zabraks eyes. Once he had his hands on these plans, he would make them into what they should of been.

Assassin Droids.

 

[H3xle]

Tain nodded at the simple answer to her question. Knowing what you will face was half the battle. She turned her head to regard the jawa as he spoke, and continued to do so as [member="Darth Ferus"] responded. She simply nodded and thought a moment.

Find the phrik and call in someone to mine it. Then we find the plans for the uber-droids and hope not to run across any.

"Do we now what tactics will work, if we do come across an active DT or two?" She asked, looking back to Ferus again.


[member="iziz vei"]

 

[Iziz]

(Uhm... Pass? Iziz has nothing to say or do now till we get there, very little for me to react to, so, feel free to have us reach destination...)

[member="Tain Organa"]

[member="Darth Ferus"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"These DTs are the originals. Wiring is exposed throughout their body, strike on their joints and they will fall." Generation One of the Dark troopers. Exposed limbs and all. Rather than continue to explain however, the Sith Lord tapped the holoprojector that was settled inbetween [member="Iziz Vei"] , [member="Tain Organa"] , and himself. Three images came up at the same time, each with a label right above them. The different stages of the Dark Trooper program.

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"Phase two and three were made elsewhere. Only remnants of the Phase one should be found. If there are any of the others, it means the information I have is incorrect, and we will all be in some trouble." True words. Grant it, they could probably take down the droids if they had to but it wouldn't be something enjoyable to any. Turning in his seat, Ferus would look out the cockpit to see the planet suddenly drop into view. It wouldn't be long until they made it to the surface now.

"One last thing. We're right outside Mandalorian territory. Keep that in mind." And with that the Sith lord would go silent. Undisturbed, they would land just outside of the run down factory on this red planet. The hangar would open shortly after, and all three would be able to step off and out into the open air. For now, it was quiet, but the Zabrak knew that it would change soon enough. Deep within, he could feel the signature of several squatters of some kind.

"Well, at least it won't be boring. Squatters. Kill them all if they see you, can't have anyone finding out we're here just yet." A bemused grin formed on the red mans face as he looked up to the entrance. At least this wouldn't be as boring as he had expected.

 

[Sitara Qin]

The brunette rolled over in the uncomfortable cabin on the ship. She wondered how long she'd been out; she remembered being tired and wanting to take a quick nap. Her vision started clearing up as she stared at the ceiling of the bunker and she sat up groggily. She massaged her temples with her forefinger trying to pull the rest of her into focus. She was here on a mission, wasn't she? This was no time to be sleeping simply because she was far too tired to do much else. She grabbed the dark grey sweater that was rumpled up on the corner of the bed and put it on. She rubbed her eyes before tying her unkept bed hair into a messy ponytail.

She got up, catching the sound of voices that were just audible enough for her to follow. She walked into the room.

"These DTs are the originals. Wiring is exposed throughout their body, strike on their joints and they will fall." She watches as three images loaded into the screen and she took note, not wanting to be left out. She wasn't quite sure of what she was supposed to say, nor did she really want to say anything at this moment. She sat on a clear table, and crossed her legs, merely observing the people she was with now. Darth Ferus, a man she noted to seem to like covering up, was definitely in charge of the mission. There was a woman with reddish pale skin and interestingly colored hair who kept her eyes on the screen as well. She then turned to look at the jawa, someone she wouldn't have guessed would be interested in being an assassin. She realized that besides Darth Ferus, she didn't really care much to learn the other members' names. Oh well, she'd find out eventually.

The ship would smoothly land on the planet. Tara didn't care much for Mandalorians; she had no real opinion on them. Judging from what she could see, the planet was literally red, and she wondered if wearing a knit pullover was the right clothing for whatever this place was.

She followed them closely behind, still not really saying much as they stepped foot on the red ground. She felt something, and she scanned her surroundings. The girl was a bit paranoid and she always made sure to watch her back. It was safer that way and she wouldn't want to die before she was properly inducted as an assassin. Darth Ferus gave them the okay to kill whoever stumbled upon them and Tara licked her lips. "Fun." She would say, her hands on her weapons.

 

[H3xle]

Tain spared a single glance for the young woman who had slept in. A single eyebrow would raise before she turned away again. The woman seemed rather disdainful of Tain, so she figured she wouldn't want to team up on the squatters.

'Her loss' she thought as she began to stride towards the open mine shaft. More for the practice than any worry of force using opposition, Tain focused as she walked, pulling in her essence evenly, as her Master had taught her, until it was smaller than a humans would be. With her current level of concentration it was only as small as a fox's would be, which was still a great deal smaller than a human's essence. She maintained that concentration to and through the entrance to the mine, letting her form slide into the shadows as if they were offering her a welcoming embrace. At that point she bent low in a crouch and studied the floor. She saw signs of roughly six or seven people, she couldn't be very sure as the prints eventually muddled together. She looked around, the area just inside the mine entrance was littered with detritus, weathered crates of supplies were strewn among cargo haulers and large mining vehicles. A door stood ajar across the cavern from her, voices could be heard from inside.

Tain smiled as she noticed a man walking out of the door and in towards the mine area. His hands grasping for his pants gave the tell tale she needed to know what he was going to do. Like a ghost, Tain slid forward, keeping to the shadow of the larger mining machines when she could, waiting until his eyes were focused away from her position to move in the open. In moments she was within a few meters of the man. He had made it as far as he wanted to go it seems, and began to void his bladder over the side of a cliff. Tain saw a ladder a few meters along the edge and farther along a massive elevator. She silently walked up, conventional stealth had always been easy for her, so she even maintained her concentration now, though it had slipped a little and grew to the size of a dog roughly. She slipped up behind the man as he finished and put himself away, she had hoped to strike after, she didn't want to see more of his anatomy than she had to. He zipped himself up and started to turn, when Tain slid forward quickly, left fist striking out, hidden blade extended, and embedding into the mans kidney. Tain's right hand snaked around and clamped his jaw and mouth closed, pulling his head back and against her chest. She withdrew her hidden blade from his kidney and placed the tip against the nerve cluster behind his ear and pushed. She let his limp body go over the cliff after a moment, then crouched and turned toward the open door, planning her next move.

[member="Sitara Qin"] | [member="Darth Ferus"] | [member="Iziz Vei"]

 

[Iziz]

Iziz, while the others seemed to stand and listen absently, one of the members of the group in particular having taken the time to sleep, Iziz had been silently sitting and focusing on the force for some time, feeling the power coarse through his veins as the others watched the hologram monitor, Iziz used this chance to fuel himself, a well meditated Sith was one who was prepared and focused, the Jawa had waited and felt the force spreading through him, empowering himself and his connection to the ephemeral power of which the order prided themselves in tapping into. Feeling the fire burn through his body, Iziz had listened to the orders he had been given, looking to the Dark Lord of the Sith, he nodded, showing that he had heard and, as such had understood the parameters of the mission, standing up, as the craft landed, he barely stood up the waists of the other's there, leaning down to have all four of his limbs touching the ground, his small saber staff strapped to his back to be pulled off at a moments' notice... The order was to find and recover the Phrik, and eliminate everything in the way of that mission, Iziz could feel himself focusing on that hunger which he knew he drew his power from, the hunger drove him, Iziz sharpened the emotional state like a blade and directed it inward into his power of will, he wanted to feed, no, he NEEDED to feed, and there was his meal within the mine...

As the door opened, the others would begin to walk out at a strong pace, however, Iziz had a different idea, feeling the force flow through his body, reinforcing his movements and enhancing them to superhuman levels, he took off on all fours like a running animal, force speed flowing through him as he would leave the others in the dust, rather than choosing to stealth himself and make his way in slowly, taking everything slowly piece by piece, he would take the option of hitting hard and fast, speeding past the door with the squatter who would exit, only to be killed moments later by the hidden blade of the team, leaving little but a breeze in his wake as Iziz; less than half a meter off the ground sped through the beginning of the mine, seeing lights in the distance, the flickering veil and the shadows which danced within them could only mean one thing, that there was a campfire... not long before the junction of the elevator... the squatters, these bums, were nothing to Iziz, the most strategic location here was the middle of the room, charging headfirst, his padded feet made no noise against the ground as he came into the open room, eyes looked in his direction, but they were too fast, the squatters who sat close to the fire were too late, and their fates sealed quickly.

Charging, not bothering to stop for the flickering flames, Iziz didn't slow, stopping in the center of their campfire, there was a sizzle as the heat from the burning wood began to transfer into the clothing of the Assassin, whos light weight and the thickness of the clothing meant that it would take at least a full second for him to feel any pain from the licks of flame which cascaded over his fragile form. Hand moving behind him tenths of seconds before he reached his destination on top of the fire, he switched off the limiters to his light-saber as he traversed it around his body and over his shoulder. Kicking hard up, Iziz stood, routing his forward momentum up and around, causing him to flourish in a three hundred and sixty degree spin as he extended his blades, the two blades at full length were over a meter long each, the spin and the flourish sent cinders coiling up towards the roof of the cavern as there was a single crack-hiss as the two plasmic beams struck through the necks of the patrons which lay around the room, dropping each of them dead to the floor, three of them in total, headless, one's corpse missing his arms from the elbows down as he raised his arms to defend himself in a hopeless attempt.

Not stopping with his spin, Iziz rounded off, kicking off the ground with a single foot and somersaulting backwards, landing on his hand and feet as he finished his entire assault in a single fluent movement, looking to each of the bodies and the room, ensuring that there were no other survivors... the others would likely catch up soon, and that was fine with the Jawa, he didn't care about the other assassins in the team, one of them needed to forward scout and eliminate anything in his path, if it meant that the team had an easier time with handling any threats which lay ahead, or that the group was not caught in a trap, it was a good thing, one of them being gunned down by a surprise mando death-squad, meant that the others had the flanking position, rather than them all being caught by the trap. Izizs' light saber beams retracted, and he moved on, seeming to come to a crossroads, one of the paths heading off to a side, while the other seemed to go deeper, and further down into the earth, the path slanting ever downward. The path to a side likely led to some form of office, as it was not too deep in from the beginning of the mine, perhaps a control room, while the other, more than certainly led to the depths of the mine itself. If iziz could clear the control room, it would definitely be the shorter path... and if he could clear it quickly he might even be able to meet the others back at the junction, if they did not pick up their speed that was...

Deciding on what he felt was the better course of action, Iziz moved to the left, not waiting for orders, as he felt he was already given them. The lone Agent of the sith assassins taking it on himself to operate. Moving to the right hand path, Iziz traveled, no longer increasing his speed with the force, sleuthing closer upright with his hands on his saber staff, hearing the sound of a person on the inside, the noise was ghastly, loud, and aggrivating... like a man gurgling on their own vomit as Iziz opened the door and slunk into the room like a cat, keeping low to the ground as it seemed the room was indeed some form of office, but now, it had been made into some kind of make-shift hotel for the homeless of this planet... Biting his tongue to the point that Izizs' own blood began to trickle down his throat, his hunger began to spike at the taste of blood, giving him a burst of resolve, moving forward and scanning the room, finding only two men here, both seeming to be asleep, the smell of alcahol thick in the room as Iziz moved closer to the sleeping targets. Drawing his lightsaber, the crack-hiss began to startle one of them, but, approaching slowly that seemed to fade, the glow of the crimson blade against the pale skin of the humanoid before him pleased Iziz as he approached his prey like a hunter. Raising his blade slowly above his head, Iziz struck down, with a loud fizz as the weapon cut through the squatter, unfortunately waking the other with a start...

Dazed and confused the other awoke, looking around to the source of the commotion as, Iziz had jumped to a side, kicking off a table and came down on the other life form with another single over-headed chop, cleaving the entity from his head vertically down and to a side, dropping a portion of the man to the ground, equal to about a third of his mass while the rest remained in his bed. Talking into his comm, Iziz relayed in Jawanese that the path ahead and to the right was clear, and that he would begin searching for any objectives. Hoping that the timing on the attack would be to the liking of [member="Darth Ferus"] , Iziz felt like he was getting faster...

Cutting the hands off one of the men, Iziz picked up the severed hand, biting hard into the gap between his forefinger and his thumb, relishing the taste as he began to sedate his hunger, placing his saber back on his back, he would begin to rummage through the rooms, looking for anything of use, while it seemed that there were some computers here, they were long extinct, likely due to the main power of the mine not being engaged, something which would likely be found deeper in the mine...

"There are terminals here... but... there is no power... we'd have to find a mains and activate it somehow, that's if it still works... "

[member="Sitara Qin"] [member="Tain Organa"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

Ferus for some reason kept his blades where they were. Never once did he make a move to assist any of the others with the task of killing the squatters. No, rather, this was their task. He would walk calmly on, knowing full well that at least [member="Tain Organa"] and [member="Iziz Vei"] would be quick to kill any potential threat, to them or the mission. This last one however, [member="Sitara Qin"] , was an oddity. She had chosen to sleep, something rather unusual for a Sith. The Sith Lord would not reprehend her for it, but if she found herself in trouble he may or may not assist. If it was something he had been sure to go over, well.

His mind trailing off was quickly back to after the initial message from the Jawa. So the front of the building was secure, for now. Good. Iziz worked fast. He was about to open his mouth to respond when the last bit came in. No power? Well, that's unhelpful. It was very likely Iziz had found the room he was looking for. The one with the information needed on the Dark Trooper program. What this meant was pretty simple though.

They were going to have to go deeper. Deeper within the mine it would be dark, and it was more than likely some of the remnants of the Dark Troopers would lay waiting. A grin would form on the Red Blades face though.

"Be ready to go deeper. Iziz, you take point. Sitara, Tain, stick close. It's likely that there's a trap or two down there. I don't see any lights, so I assume these squatters did their best to stay away." It was true. While this was a place to sleep for them, they avoided the mine shaft like the plague. He was very, very sure that something down below was still active, and waiting.

Moving his way to the shaft itself, he would already place the call for [member="Darth Arcanix"] to come and assist with reclaiming the ore. With the entrance secure and a visible path to the mine, it would be easy to get the phrik out now. "We leave the phrik, now we focus on those plans. Find the power core, get it running. And be careful of finding any of those droids."

 

[Sitara Qin]

The other two had been insanely quick to act, and Sitara was a little guilty for still being a bit groggy. It wasn't as though she meant to have fallen asleep, the current circumstances just made it hard for her to wake up. Now that she was awake however, her head buzzed just the slightest. It wasn't enough to shift her focus from the mission nor was it painful; it was however, pretty damn annoying. She pinched herself. She had to get her chit together. An unfocused assassin was a dead assassin after all.

"Gotcha." Darth Ferus would lead them deeper into the mine and she would learn that the jawa was named Iziz and the red girl was called Tain. For some reason, she felt more like a tomb raider than an actual assassin. Besides the random inhabitants, she doubted she'd be killing anything really important today. However, she clearly understood that she shouldn't make too much noise. There might be something sour waiting for them at the end of all this. She readied her blades just in case.

The instructions were clear. Avoid the mines, kill anything that moves, and look for the plans. All while avoiding death. In theory it seemed simple enough, and by the time Darth Ferus told them to look for the power core and hopefully avoid those droids. The girl nodded and split from the group to search the random tunnels inside the mines. She hoped to god she wouldn't run into anything too unpleasant. She wasn't sure why anyone would even want to inhabit the blood moon in the first place.

She was careful and quiet, just as she was trained to be. She held her breath anytime she heard something suspicious.

She heard something coming her way. She prepared her blades and turned around. She sighed, as the small reptilian creature hopped towards her. Just a gizka. Probably a pet of something one of the other two had slaughtered. She picked up the creature. It was friendly enough though it seemed a little startled. Perhaps one of her three companions had scared it somehow.

"Alright little guy. Lead the way." She said, setting the critter down. Might as well follow it since she was walking around aimlessly. Maybe it'll lead her to the core. "Not so fast!" She huffed as she chased after the gizka who was moving quickly. She took a deep breath as she caught up with it, wondering why it stopped.

She pressed herself against the wall and glanced at whatever the gizka seemed to be looking at. She held her breath. Droids. Two of them; they didn't seem to be activated though she wasn't willing to test that out. There seemed to be what appeared to be a door in the back and it may or may not actually lead to the core. She didn't know if taking the risk all on her own was a good idea. Perhaps she should signal for help before actually going in there.

Unless.

'Sorry little guy.' She picked up the gizka and threw him into the pit. A loud electrical noise could be heard and the scent of fried gizka filled the air. Yup, definitely active.

|[member="Darth Ferus"]| [member="Iziz Vei"] |[member="Tain Organa"] |

 

[Iziz]

Iziz himself moved back to where the mining shaft was, looking to Ferus he nodded to the orders he was given, looking at the shaft he drew a single blade of his saber-staff as he approached the beginning of the elevator shaft, looking to the door he would plunge the tip into the lock, leaving his blade there until the locking mechanism was no longer viable, whether it was a latch or magnetic lock which would have faded due to the lack of power... It made sense that the power station in this place would be held somewhere on the upper floors, the lower ones deeper in the earth would have been less supported, so, structurally, any power source to the facility would have needed to be built to mine, meaning it would have had to be built first, making it higher when it came to its placement... Biting his lip the rodent sheathed his saber and returned it to its place on his back, looking briefly to the others, closing his eyes, and focusing on the force, he could feel the power at his fingertips as he thrust both of his palms outwards, and as he did so, the door to the shaft ripped open... Without hesitation the Jawa placed both of his hands at the mouth of the door, and began to climb downwards into the shaft, using the structure of the reinforcing and how light his body was in order to climb his way down, sadly, unlike the elevators of less evolved species, there was no pulley system which would allow him to slide down to the next door. Though, the softly glowing eyes of the Jawa allowed him to see perfectly in the low light.

Going down a single level, he did exactly as he was ordered, he took point, acting as the scout for the rest of them, he reached the second door, time, having long faded away anything other than the manufactured print on the plastisteel doorway. Cocking his head to a side as the Jawa observed the door, he tried to make his way through by prying it open, unlike the door before hand, as he failed to have the same grounding beneath his feet as he did with the last one... Though, regardless he needed to get through, having used the force a couple of times already, Iziz was beginning to tire, thankfully his time having meditated on the force had empowered his reserves some-what when it came to needing to rely on his strength with the overwhelming power. Taking another deep breath, Iziz looked over to the other end of the elevator shaft. One thing was for sure, he could not use a force push on a steel door which he was standing up against, the wave would more than likely to some degree push back, forcing the Jawa to fall down the shaft, he needed something else to stand on, which, gave him an interesting idea.

Calling to the other's to wait a moment before he began...

Iziz looked to the other side of the shaft, smiling as he was about to test himself, jumping as high and as far as he could he soared through the air to reach the other side of the elevator shaft, reaching out he gripped one of the ridges of the shaft with his finger-tips, pressing his feet against the shaft, threatening to kick himself away and sever his grip, coiling his legs against the wall like a spring, it was here, in this brief half a second that Iziz had to coil the power of the force around his hands, looking up at his target as he wielded the power of the force on his palms, springing from the wall directly for the door he was intending to break through as the Jawa let out a small roar of effort, the force push colliding with the long aged door, cracking the plastisteel the crumbling it with the weight of the force, blowing the door outwards into the next room. Hitting the floor and rolling Iziz drew his light-saber, igniting one end and holding it ready for any threats which were in the immediate area, looking two and fro for any sign of life, be it artificial or biologically inclined. Seeing and sensing nothing, Iziz gave the okay for now, not feeling the sensation on the back of his neck of being watched from a distance by electronic sensors from the dark of the room ahead, a silent hunter stalking the halls of this level, awoken by the sounds which emanated from the floor above before they entered...

something here was waiting for them...

Cold as the machine.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Ferus"] [member="Iziz Vei"] [member="Sitara Qin"]

Taeli stretched as she finally got the message from Ferus to head to the phrik mine. She had been waiting in orbit with a whole team of Krayt workers that would get the mine operational and bringing out the rare mineral. She had so many plans for the material, oh so many, and she really had to thank Ferus for giving her this opportunity.

"Alright, let's head down since we got the all clear," she said, and the Krayt workers descended. A few minutes later, the workers were already getting full mining equipment ready; droids, hover lifts, lighting, safety equipment, drilling and digging equipment. Everything one needed to expand and get a mine operational.

The first miners began to descend into the mine, lights being strung up as they went, while another team set track and further support beams behind them as they went. It would be best to sue new tech and not rely on the old, just in case there were any accidents. The whine of hydraulic jacks began to fill the labyrinth like area as the first miners reached what had been marked as the first deposit they could start working.

 

[Ballen-Ist]

Life for the young Sith Knight nowadays was rather complicated, for it involving traveling from planet to planet, in desperate search for the one thing that could quench his thirst. This thirst was not for power, women, nor even an ice cold beverage. What drove the young man was the desire to find his old master, one that he had left behind long ago. The dark signature that was [member="Darth Ferus"] had echoed throughout the galaxy quite audibly for Ballen-Ist, the pure blood's mind having detected it the moment it was awakened. The last time he had encountered his master, it had been as Krest, a weakling compared to the individual he was about to confront. Within a dark room, the red skinned Sith had remained undisturbed for the most part, until somewhat of a blast woke him from his dark meditation. He had discovered the facility sometime ago, for the force had seemed to pull him to it's location. Of course, the reason it had was more than apparent now, as he began to sense a familiar presence. One he had not felt in-

Though, it seemed that he was not alone this time. Ferus had decided to bring along his new apprentices apparently, [member="Iziz Vei"] being the closest. Having remained covert thus far, Ballen had not experienced any trouble with the droids that lurked here and there, even if they did attack they would find themselves in a world of... Malfunction? Gritting his teeth at the wordplay he found so difficult, the Knight would begin to move, his dark cloak fluttering in his wake as he stepped from the shadows. Even if the Jawa was the closest, there were many within the mine that he could fool around with, and he figured he would confront them one by one, and gather information. With incredibly swiftness and agility, Ballen-Ist would begin to shoot down the many corridors and hallways, leaping down flights of stairs, before climbing a few more. A few rounds of blaster fire were heard in the distance, and after a brief moment of sensing the Knight could tell that someone was near. That someone being [member="Sitara Qin"]. Continuing forward in a more restrained manner, the youth's vision would pierce through the darkness, spotting two droids ahead, along with a fried gizka. The kark?

Knowing that he would have to pass the droids in order to reach the apprentice nearby, Ballen would resort to destroying them, lifting an arm and aiming his open palm towards the mechanical duo. The dark energy that seemed to leak endlessly from his being would begin to focus and hone it's self, gathering in the Knight's palm as a wild storm of lightning shot from his finger tips, spreading out through the air and homing in on the droids, causing them to explode as the powerful energy dug into the wall and surrounding area, leaving it's mark. The ferocious, almost overwhelming aura of dark side power would resume it's shape around the cloaked Sith's body, he having not even used a fraction of his power. Of course, he did not intend to at this point, for he neither sought to seriously hurt or kill the individuals who were considered Ferus's apprentices. He sought only information, and he intended to get it one way or another. Releasing a burst of force speed, Ballen would surge forward as his feet moved rapidly, springing him into the air as his legs applied pressure to the ground.

Having leaped out from the pit which had previously contained the two droids, the crimson skinned Knight would slowly turn his gaze to Sitara, assuming she had been the one to sacrifice the gizka. As Ballen thought more about it the more disturbed he was, even though it truly did not matter. He simply felt bad for the creature, despite having killing many sentient beings in his time. Not even reaching for a weapon or making the slightest of moves, the young man's golden stare would set itself upon the woman, as he spoke softly and calmly, "Who are you, and why have you come here?" he questioned, wondering how she would react. Another was within the mine too, making three apprentices as he sensed [member="Tain Organa"].

 

[Iziz]

Iziz didn't notice the commotion, being one floor down from the rest he made his way through the halls, scouting ahead as none seemed to be coming down after him, the sith acolyte was not one to dally... Moving down the corridor Iziz could hear the light buzzing, not bearing to listen what was going on above, whatever drama they were having, whether or not it was shooting gizka with a blaster or in-fighting with each other, Iziz was here to get a job done and leave, whether or not the others had anything to do with it. Lurking down the hallways he did not bother to hide himself, holding his light saber at the ready in case of adversity, it did not take long for Iziz to find the panel which pointed him in the direction of the engine room. In these halls, there were bodies of long destroyed droids, each of them likely had the phrik armour plating across their bodies, yet each of them seemed to have been destroyed by the combat which had erupted here an age ago. The hallways here were dusty due to the magnetically closed door... not touched by sentient life in an age, the air here was dry, and dirt filled... Not the kind of place to bring your kids to for a holiday to be sure...

Picking up to a run, Iziz was beginning to feel anxious, like something was watching him, it put him on edge, made his fur stick up on end as he leaped down the hallway one foot after the other, his bipedal running speed average at best as he looked to and fro, until he finally came to the door which would be the entry point he was looking for... testing the power here, he pressed his hand to the control panel, to find the same amount of effect as the other time, so, came the next and only other option to get through a blast door. Grabbing his light saber, he powered on one of the two crimson blades, and with a single thrust put it tip first into the lock, as the steel began to melt quickly, as if it were submerged into the fiery hot nuclear furnace of a sun in supernova. The droid monitoring Iziz had been foolish for one of several reasons... The first, was to think that a droid, a machine, was capable of moving with stealth down a steel plated hallway... the second... was it thinking that a rodent, like a jawa, would not be able to pick up on the scent of the dust which it kicked up with every move it make, making the small confined space more dence with the earthy smelling grain no matter how subtle... The third, and final mistake, was thinking that Iziz had not kept his guard up...

by thinking his light saber was only one sided...

When the magna guard-esque assassin unit flashed into existence, its light body plating meaning that it was built largely as a speed based unit, though having the sword attached to its wrists meant that this droid had somehow adapted to the area here, scavenging off its long fallen bretherin. It was an anomoly, time had caused the bugs in its system to slowly adapt with its current coding, corrupting its basic modus opperandi and developing traits which were not a part of its usual AI, likely due to the prototype nature of the dark-trooper project at the time they had not worked out every kink in the matrix, like if they were to go activated and without orders for hundreds of years... being a rather unforeseeable hurdle which it seemed that this droid was incapable of resolving... the internal error combined with its slowly degrading systems in need of desperate repair, this droid was a survivor... but it was a shame that it had to end now...

Iziz ejecting the blade swung under his lightsaber which was penetrated into the blast door as the first of the droids' strikes came down, the extending blade delivering the droid a powerful stab directly into the strongest part of its phrik-alloy chest plate, damaging the steel, but, as the nature of the material would suggest, the metal resisted the blow, forcing the droid backwards more than anything, but severely weakening the composure of the alloy, from there Iziz used this one opportunity to dig deep inside himself and focus on that hunger which he held dear to him, drawing off it, feeding off it while the droid composed itself, pushing the power to his legs, arms, and through his body, giving him the one statistic which made him dangerous...

SPEED

Hands on his weapon, Iziz thrusted forward toward the droid which had recomposed and charged once again, only to meet the blades of Iziz. Spinning horizontally like a tornado with a single power-strike for the droids' legs, one of the two long wrist blades clashed with the crimson beamsword in a sturdy guard, as the droid rose the other to come down on Iziz with full force. Retracting his blades, Iziz dove forward, rolling between the legs of the droid and under the blade, kicking off the ground rather than coming to his feat fully Iziz felt the incoming next attack, the droid spun with a low cut, with such mechanical force that would have rended the Jawa in twine, even should he have attempted to guard against the strikes. Vauting through the air above it, the crimson blades screamed to life a second time, as Iziz landed where he was standing before, and here, he decided to press the attack.

Spinning his blade to and fro he advanced on the droid, using his saber staff much like a real life bo-staff, the speed of the weapon was incredible, though, the droid was able to keep up, the length of its arms and its size advantage meaning that it was able to block many of the striking locations at several locations, only avoiding iziz striking at the joints of its arms and other weak spots.

But such did not stop the Jawa's flurry. The strength and speed of his assault being met with resistance pushed him harder to resolve the conflict. Slowing down for a moment, Iziz struck with one of the blades only to retract it before it hit as a faint. The droid seized its opportunity and lunged with both of its blades at knee and chest height swiping each of them inward like a bladed embrace to cut the Jawa Apart... Ducking low, Iziz rose his single blade facing upward to block the strike, meeting the full strength of the robot with the one blade, Iziz held firm, parying the blow upward he double gripped his hilt with a wide spacing, much like a naganata or a poleaxe, giving him control of the weapon, but also power. With the upward parry, iziz traversed the weapon and jumped with an uppercut like strike which was blocked by the same arm, saving the droid's torso. Flipping in middair, it was the downward strike which the machine should have been more afraid of. Holding up the other one of the phrik blades the droid parried, but, the strength of the blade, having blocked many strikes, and especially that one, was beginning to redden, and the composure of the steal was starting to weaken...

Iziz saw the weakness, and it rallied him...

Back-flipping instantly off the impact, throwing all his weight back with his arms, Iziz avoided the counter-attack by moving back, though finding himself quickly up against the blast door once again, a position which he knew was not one which played to his advantage, cornered, but pushed into an interesting predicament, Iziz smiled... the droid darted forward with an organic level of speed and entered a frenzy, blows came from every direction as Iziz retracted his lightsaber, ducking and weaving, using his inferior size and the use of Ataru to attempt to avoid the opponent. The sharp phrik blades sang through the air as they cut, bluntened much by iziz's lightsaber, but, still lethal, Iziz span to the side, ducking the next strike, steppting forward and into the droid, giving him just enough space to be able to flip back again and place his feet on the blast door, coiling his legs like springs once again he held his lightsaber in front of him, and pushed forward spinning with all his might, igniting the blades to their full length as the spinning blur jumped to just a side of the droid.

When Iziz landed behind the droid, he knew the droid had blocked it, Iziz had felt the premature impact of the arm, and then a second impact as he had hit its chest, not as string as the first. But a crash hit the ground just as he landed... Looking back the Droid had lost one of its arms..., the phrik alloy had been severed by the repeated blows, and this battle had ended. No survival instinct kicked in for the droid, it was like a wounded warrior, looking to die, and Iziz would grant it. Pressing forward with both blades, the droid would attempt to guard its whole body, but it was missing stray blows, hits to the sides of the opposite knee, waist, ankle. Bit by bit the droid was taking damage in the next exhchange of rapid flurries and devastating skill these droids once had to offer, until finally, the opposite leg was down, the droid lost balance, fell toward Iziz who retracted one of his blades and held his weapon in a reverse grip, wating for the opportune moment. Jumping with a single upward cut before spinning the blade and bringing it down in a stab, Iziz penetrated the neck, severing its head and planting the blade into its chest, slowly breaking down the armour just like the blast door over a few seconds before finally penetrating its power core and ending it...

Retracting his blade, and then opening the blast door with a small push of telekinesis, it was smooth sailing... stepping in, it would not take long to enter the power room, and flip the main control switches on, as well as plug in the right fuses for core power to the lift, as well as the monitors and the lights to the tunnels, making the facility bright once again....

The power was on.

 

[Sitara Qin]

"Who are you, and why have you come here?" The question had snapped her to her senses. She gripped her teeth, half relieved that someone had taken out the two droids she had incinerated the gizka and half disappointed that she had been upstaged. She could sense more force sensitive users within the cave than there had originally been. It wasn't just them anymore and for this new person to come along and show off, well, it wasn't very appreciated. He was far taller than her, and the young sith girl gritted her teeth. He looked her age, and that was probably even worse.

"Thanks love, but I was fully capable of handling that." She told him, her fingers tightly wrapped around the hilt of her saber. A whiff of fried gizka could still be smelled in the air, however, the overpowering smell of burnt metal filled her nostrils and she grimaced. Did he really have to do to that? She could have destroyed them without causing this much of a mess.

"And look sweetheart, whatever we're doing here is none of your business." She told him, flashing him a small smile. This whole thing was a secret right? Although it was her fault for missing most of the orientation due to her sleeping half the ride here. She still had a mild buzz from her hangover although she didn't want people to think that she didn't mean business. She did however want to finish the mission as soon as possible and leave with her body in tact, and maybe she was a little grateful for having her ass saved.

Suddenly, the power went on, illuminating the dark cave. She gritted her teeth. One of the others had probably found the light switch. What were they supposed to do next? She scratched the back of her head, feeling a little lost. Perhaps this was a good time to regroup. "I think we better find the others."

|[member="Iziz Vei"]|[member="Ballen-Ist"] |[member="Darth Arcanix"]|[member="Darth Ferus"]|[member="Tain Organa"]|

 

[Ballen-Ist]

A soft laugh would be heard from beneath the hood, Ballen's youthful voice echoing through the dark and silent corridors of the mining facility. "Is that why you sacrificed the gizka?" the Knight would mock playfully, a slight smirk upon his face after retorting to her first comment. It truly was entertaining to interact with these apprentices, for they reminded him of himself back in the day. When he was younger and lacked control over the force, Ballen-Ist had always been a tactical thinker, playing things out in his mind and taking the necessary steps to gauge whatever was in his way. It was what had made him the only person to pass the bull rancor simulation, at least out of the acolytes that Ferus had chosen that year. He had been such an arrogant, cocky little shit back then, he could not help but be filled with joy as he listened to [member="Sitara Qin"]'s next comment. Even as the lights turned on around them, the young Knight remained un-phased, taking a few steps closer to the younger woman as he looked down upon her with his golden eyes. "I believe that is where you're wrong, sweetheart," the Sith continued, giving her a brief smile of his own, before clenching his teeth and taking a rather serious expression.

"I know you're here with [member="Darth Ferus"]. That is why I'll accompany you in finding the others." Ballen would conclude soundly, rather confident and assertive of his statements.

 

[Iziz]

Iziz after flipping the switch began to exit the area, spitting on the droid as he walked past with a little chuckle, he had a slash through his robes and a couple of other cuts where the droid had managed to get awkwardly close. Surely now they had access to the terminal, and even if that specific terminal did not have the plans they needed, Iziz felt like he had done easily his worth of work for this, he could still loosely sense the presences of those above him... there seemed to be someone else there, another humanoid sent wafted along the wind, calm, neutral, something wasn't right, or perhaps they had simply received backup. Whatever the being was doing there, Iziz barely had the heart to care yet alone actually do something about it. Moving to the elevator shaft before the others called up the elevator, he would hit the elevator button first, ensuring that it would stop on this floor, and not continue up to the top in a manner which would lead to his untimely demise. Looking at the open gap as he could see a light turn on many meters below where he was, identifying the elevator immediately as he jumped to the wall on the other side, kicking off it and zig-zagging in small jumps up the shaft until he was able to leap out the top of the elevator, where he was able to see the others in the general vicinity. The base now seemed to be largely operational, and that was fine, but, as he looked over to the station with the computer in it... no-one seemed to have touched it, gone near it, or hoped to collect the data they were all looking for, so, Iziz decided to, looking to and fro to ensure that his path was clear he headed to the monitor and attempted to reboot it, it seemed to turn on without issue, though, very quickly he found himself hitting an encryption wall, something that was standardly used, but Iziz was no slicer, thus, his duty here ended.

Reporting the find to Darth Ferus thought his datapad and a simple message, he began to head back to the ship, there were enough Sith here to make up the ground work force. Muttering an Utini under his breath as he walked past the corridor which the other two would be talking down just as they would decide to come and look for the other members of the group, though he did not particularly bother with eather of them, moving back to the location with the hobos he had killed, he drew his lightsaber and cut off one of their arms, at the wrist and the elbow, grabbing the arm and lowering it over the fire and beginning to cook the humanoid meat for a meal while he awaited the orders of someone else... hopefully someone would say or do something which involved him, though, as it stood, he was rather content.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Apparently the first deposit had been quite a nice chunk of ore, Taeli observed, as mag-carts started to emerge from the mine. The phrikite ore mined here would be shipped to a secure facility for processing. Taeli didn't believe in having such a rare material being processed at the same place as it was mined. Bad things could happen then and then your enemy would have refined ores instead of just lumps of ore and rock.

Several Strider-class freighters were now landing nearby, their holds empty and waiting for the ore shipments. Several workers, along with droids began moving the ore to the freighters, while inside the mine, the miners continued to delve deeper and extract more of the ore. Taeli had big plans for this stuff, oh so many plans.

"Jaxson, is the processing site ready?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," her right-hand man said. "We've set it up several kilometers away, the freighters will fly in atmosphere to transport it and we have several Wraths and Shyracks flying patrol patterns from our corporate fleet."

"Excellent," she said, smiling as more and more ore was extracted and being brought to the surface.