Return of the Damned

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Elayne Saedaris"]


In Kaida's opinion, Elayne was far too snarky and unruly for her own good. This was terribly ironic because a younger Kaida had been very rebellious. Even more so when you considered that the Saedaris twin was actually almost half a century older than she was! This writer so loves irony.


Contrary to popular belief, elf ears actually served a purpose beyond being the subject of some rather odd fetishes, so Kaida had actually heard the words Elayne was mumbling to herself. "Focus on your work," she said blandly, eyes to the sky. The Kar'zun forces, already badly decimated by the intense hailstorm of flak fire, had landed and were now seeking to storm the fortress, though for that they would have to ascend the mountains. Well, that would not be a problem for Kar'zun...but all the intense firepower would be.


They found themselves being shelled by explosives as mortars rained down death upon them, likewise e-web and shattercannon turrets put those who marching up the road under heavy fire. Kaida felt Elayne adding her powers to the wind by utilising her Sciia. The powerful, raging winds were gaining speed as the upper level clouds were added to the mix, joining the winds Kaida was working on. Strain was evident on Kaida's features but she persevered as she drew ever deeper upon her powers. What was being formed was a mighty swirling vortex that swept across the ground at awe-inspiring speed and ferocity, of such force that a mighty howl could be heard as if it were the call of a wrathful goddess.


Kaida had to admit that despite her sass the Saedaris girl had talent. Perhaps something to look into once the battle was over. Added to this maelstorm conjured up by them were the powers of the other Angelii aeromancers, along with the cryomancers and pyromancers who were joining the spellcasting. Aeromancy was a skill most Angelii had some proficiency in, so they could easily join the onslaught. It was not a true force meld, though if Kaida had not been so focused upon her task she might have considered the fact that this would be a valuable ability for them to learn. And so the mighty storm swept across the land and wrecked havoc, hitting the invaders with full, devastating force. Through Kaida's spellcasting and that of the other cryomancers, came a deathly numbing cold and a furious blizzard that would lessen visibility and even chill the hearts of the stone men.



True, the Kar'zun were heavy and strong, for they were made out of rock and thus the personification of implacable force, but they were dealing with a massive wind that would grip and smash even them and their war machines. You see, as can undoubtedly be imagined, tornadoes are very nasty and volatile. Now was the moment for Tempest to join in. "Electromancers, unleash lightning," Kaida commanded tersely, having to shout make herself heard amidst all the chaos and loud noise, and so those Angelii with electrical powers would unleash blazing torrents of lightning. Chaos, carnage and bloodshed would ensue.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Elayne Saedaris"] | [member="HK-36"]


The storm was coming, literally and figuratively. The Kar’zun had no idea what they had walked into. The ships and pods which even reached the ground were immediately bombarded by conventional and unconventional weapons.
Finally, as they tried to advance, the full power of earth, air and water struck them. From Kaida there came the numbing cold and blizzard which lessened visibility and chilled even the stone hearts of the Kar’zun. From Elayne came the additional power of winds and the dirt being sucked up into the vortex. Finally it was Tempest who added the finishing touches.
Lightning crackled as she soared into the air, into the very vortex the others were creating. The cold, the debris, all of it clawed at her, but she persisted, and electrical power crackled from her, finally discharged into the vortex. The storm struck the invaders without mercy, and those not struck down by lightning or knocked down by winds, found a new foe upon them.

As the storm subsided, as it had to eventually, Tempest barely managed to control her own descent, landing on the plain, battered and exhausted. She was isolated and alone, and the few surviving Kar’zun took the opportunity to attack this tormentor before she could escape.

However, before Tempest could even think of defending herself, the Kar’zun were assailed from the rear and flanks!
Other Kar’zun, lighter in skin colour, and wearing the traditional costumes, were suddenly appearing from fissures and holes in the ground and attacking the invaders as well!
There was Representative Nar’dvan, ponderously smashing down one of his enemies with a great mace. He offered his massive hand to Tempest, who took it in wonderment as the remaining attackers of Dusk were slain or forced to submit.
“They are not Kar’zun, they are invaders to us too. We stand with you, human,” he said.
Tempest reached for her comm. “Kaida, tell them to cease fire, the situation’s under control here. The native Kar’zun are helping us against the invaders too!”

 

[HK-36]

[member="Anya Venari"], [member="Meanken"]

"Roger, roger."

Came a stereotypical droid response to Anya as droid pushed himself off from the dropship's seat, holding on to nearby overhead railing as he moved closer to the pilot, projecting his voice to other soldiers and transcript on their HUD's as he begun to speak,

"We will be engaging in ground battle, sounds for heavy armor and artillery reinforcement from the Tower, the Dancing Queen will be arriving soon along with the rest of the fleet, it seems we were ahead. We will be landing by the capital of Santaissa to help their defences. Our recon craft tell me that the Eldorai have already engaged the enemy forces, we will land in a flanking position outside the city and immediately begin bombardment in a pincer maneuver. Prepare for resistance as soon as the ramps lower."

As the droid spoke, looking over the pilot's shoulder to watch the land before his cockpit, the pilot nodded, following the orders as their dropship swung about Santaissa, Chaff in turn would be able to feel their craft beginning to descent in a slightly rough but quick landing maneuver as HK stepped back from the cockpit towards the still closed ramp, stray shot shaking them here and then, plus they had to get through all these winds.

Stepping closer to the ramp HK spoke,

"On your feet, boys and girls, and prepare for combat."

He would pat the back of the spider-like Light Mobile Weapons Platform in front of him before soldiers with the huge Mobile Barricades took his spot to prepare for the engagement,

"Grenades ready."

The droid ordered as he took a canister as well in one hand, in the other he gripped his lightsaber.


Finally there was that shake and clunk, the sounds of touch down as the ramp open and the droids and soldiers begun to push forward. Chaff would be able to hear a whirr then, Rotary Cannon on the Light droid powering up, and then the first time he would hear Shattergun Rotary Cannon fire off.

What the droid "forgot" to mention was how loud those things well, thunder incarnate as they begun to fire, and even if his helmet would have sound dampeners to prevent his ear drums from being ripped, he could still tell that it was loud.

"Abregado!"

The droid called off leading the charge after the spider-droids and Mobile Barricades, his lightsaber extended towards the enemy positions, the aura of the Light side shining clearly from it even as the canisters of gas grenades flew, providing cover for them and other ships, chocking consciousness away from any enemy that would get too close to them.

Chaff would be able to hear the muffled war cries and yells, all blending together with chaos of the battle and thunder of Abregado and Kaeshana's guns. And although they have landed on a flanking position far enough for safe bombardment of the remaining invader forces, especially those giving trouble to Eldorai capital, their enemy would soon enough close in on them and make themselves apparent.


It seems that first fight Chaff would pick among the Omegas was with huge, sturdy rock creatures, it must have been fun when one came at him with huge stone fists and primitive weaponry, but the writer of Chaff can say more about that, because through the yellow-green fog and among the Chaos he was going to face off some of them.


As to HK, his lightsaber would be seen dancing and twirling, the droid fighting the rock men along with his soldiers as they secured their landing zone, wall of Barricades soon erected along with Rotary cannon turrets and soldiers armed with the heavy bolt guns to bombard any enemies that would remain still.

And bad news would keep on coming as more dropships landed, as one of the ramps lowered screeching roars would even be heard, it was the Nocur (Owlbear) Knights of Abregado deploying and entering combat on the back of their armored lightsaber-resistant and rotary cannon wielding mounts.


And as to Eldorai Fighters [member="Elayne Saedaris"], [member="Kaida Taldir"]a, and [member="Tempest"],

They would be able to see the first dropship with the Metal Demon land and then string of other craft following it into a cloud of yellow-green mist that suddenly erupted as its ramps open, the thunderous gunfire from the cloud would echo through the land as any invaders that would be enveloped in it would be heard screaming in pain and terror, a hail of slugs rising to strike the invaders threatening the Eldorai capital down.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Unfortunately, [member="Elayne Saedaris"], [member="Kaida Taldir"] and [member="Tempest"] would probably be unable to see the dropship with the Metal Demon [member="HK-36"] land. As has been said, though it's understandable that given all the posts in this thread it might have been overlooked, they were at the Citadel of Dusk, not the capital. The Citadel in question was not only built deep into the mountains, but on the other side of the planet.



In any case, Siobhan was observing things from the Citadel of Dawn, which was conveniently only 400km away from the capital and in fact overlooked it. So unlike Team Natural Disaster she was in a position to see the ARGH dropships descend from the skies and towards the capital, having received a message from the palace. Nonetheless she activated her comm to make sure the order had gotten through. You see, in situations like this, when the flak crews would be quite trigger-happy given that there was an invasion going on, coordination was important.


Especially when one considered the simple fact that many Eldorai strongly distrusted droids. Hearing about events like Clockwork only reinforced such sentiments. "This is Countess Kerrigan, reinforcements from Abregado-Rae are deploying aid the defences of the city, hold your fire on them." Hopefully there would not be too much chaos, but in any case the order would be transmitted to the Ashira's Crown bases, which overlooked and defended the capital along with the Citadel of the Sun. With the Kar'zun armada of landing craft all but wiped out, the impressive array of Javelin, Ballista and Keraunos turrets, though the Tempest cannons, turned towards the sky, maintained a relentless volley and kept pounding the massive asteroid up in orbit.



As for the situation at the Citadel of the Dawn, it mirrored that at the Citadel of Dusk. The Kar'zun had no idea what they had walked into by the time they sought to ascend the mountains and march up the road that led to the base. They were bombarded by unconventional and conventional weapons as a hailstorm of bolter and blaster came down upon them. The air was filled with the whine of rocket motors as heavy artillery, placed on the ground a good deal away from the mountains, unleashed a bombardment of missiles upon those Kar'zun who had not yet made the ascent. Large craters were blown into the earth and under the ferocity of the bombardment Kar'zun were literally blown to pieces. It would only get worse as two assault walkers were moving into position, each step of theirs made the earth shake and their massive cannons were aimed at the enemy, preparing to fire before they did so, their guns causing a thunderous roar.


As for those Kar'zun who actually made it up the mountain, they would face the fury of the Angelii and the elements. "Grand Seraph [member="Aeda Shaytari"], the enemy is being cornered. Deal with the rest and wipe them out. Our armour is cutting off their retreat."


Next she sent a transmission to the Citadel of Dusk. "High Captain Tahril, what's your status? Is the enemy repulsed?" By now the the Abregado-Rae and Iron Company reinforcements would have landed in Santaissa and engaged the enemy. The sight of the Nocur Owlbear Knights of Abregado entering battle upon the backs of their heavily armoured, lightsabre-resistant and rotary cannon wielding mounts would probably be an impressive sight. Likewise the loud noise caused by the fire unleashed by the shattergun rotary cannons and shatterbolters, pretty much like the thunderous roar caused by firing a cannon.


The Eldorai had been given some time to prepare for the defences of Santaissa, especially since the Kar'zun landing craft had been forced go through a hellish hailstorm of flak fire, and it would show as they engaged the enemy with their Abregado-Rae allies. What ensued was brutal urban combat, though it was a quite onesided affair. Eldorai soldiers had dug in and assumed defensive positions behind Mobile Barricades, from which they put the rock people under fire with blasters, bolters and shattercannons, even sonic blasters. From the flanks came heavy armour in form of Reaver-class assault tanks. The Kar'zun might have a high degree of resistance to the flames unleashed by its flamethrower, but they had no defence against repeating blasters or a mass driver cannon. Before their might the people of the stone would quite literally crumble into small pieces.


Of course, in an urban environment the utility of armour is restricted due to the lack of mobility, making them slightly more like mobile pillboxes especially since the Eldorai did not want to damage their own city, but there was nowhere for the Kar'zun to hide. Air support would come in form of a flight of Silaqui-class Gunships, who swooped down from the skies like hawkes upon prey and unleashed searing laser volleys of death with their cannons and in some cases a hailstorm of rounds with shattergun rotary cannons, the thunderous roar these guns caused like that of a cannon being fired. If one wanted to think of a fitting analogy for the invasion, it was as if a Lost Battalion of the Kaiser's army had landed in London with Zeppelins expecting to fight the Tommies from the Great War, only to be confronted with an army that had 2015 technology.



Then the elements themselves conspired against the stone men as raging whirlwinds and torrents of lightning assailed them. As if this was not enough, there were earth elementalists amongs the ranks of the Eldorai under whose magic the Kar'zun, who were after all largely composed of stone, found their bodies manipulated in cruel and devious ways, for instance Kar'zun that tried to break out of the encirclement and sought to charge the ranks of the Angelii phalanx would find themselves utterly unable to move as their feet were suddenly bound to the very ground they walked on as the earth sought to reclaim them and they became heavier and heavier, an accelerated form of stone death. Then with Eldarai battle curses and hymns to the Goddess Valora, deity of battles, the phalanx would charge, Angelii warriors wielding sarixi and sarzmigars, protected by the Taegis battle shields, and descend upon the Kar'zun with a fury like that of the avenging angels of Ashira, for her wrath had been aroused and no enemy of the sacred land would be left standing, but broken with Kaeshana valour and Kaeshana steel.

 

[Meanken]

Chaff was ready. He was more then tired of waiting in the ship, and he was up and ready with his blaster pointed out at the soon to be opened ramp. It opened, and he was greeted by a scene that would have made any movie producer green with envy. In addition to the usual expected madness of combat between two opposing army's and the chaos that involved, it seemed the weather had decided to have a sense of humor today, what with the gigantic thunderstorms directly overhead. Not to mention all the artillery being deployed and such. Chaff was probably lucky he could still hear anything at all.

That, however, was quickly rectified as the droids opened up with their gigantic guns. It would appear the droid forgot, or more likely, just didn't think to warn him about how damn loud those things were. By the time he had adjusted to the noise, he saw some big rock....thing charging at him.

Up to this point, Chaff had maintained a level of professionalism in his attitude. After all, he might be in the unit for a while, and it wouldn't do to go and make his bosses angry cause he was acting like a punk. But now he was in direct combat, and any attempt at pretending to be what he was not went away. He would laugh as the thing approached.

"Come get some, ugly!" He would yell as the thing closed the distance and took a swing at him. He ducked under the thing's attack and struck out with the pike, nailing the thing in the head, sending the blade directly into the thing's brain, or whatever the equivalent that it had was.

"Hahahaha, I could get used to this!" He yelled as he yanked out the blade. He saw another one coming. This time he would not let him close into close range. He lifted his arm, firing a missile directly at the big thing, which was unable to move out of the way before it exploded in it's face. it was knocked to the ground. having no idea if it had been killed or not, Chaff ran over and impaled it in the face real quick to make sure.

"Is this all ya got!?" Chaff yelled. Then he saw more coming, this time as a group. No doubt they were trying to break through the flank to get around the droids that were tearing apart their front lines.Chaff's response was to crack his neck and ready his blade. He would continue to hold off the rock things with a mix of blades and missiles, taunting them every so often just to add an extra layer of humiliation to their continued failures to take him down.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Anya Venari"], [member="Meanken"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],


Meanwhile, as the green cloud of chocking gas around the Abregado's landing zone would begin to settle a scene of a last stand would be seen as a perimeter of Mobile Barricades was establishes upon the hill, turrets of their rotary cannons and the fire support spider droids would be seen here and there as well as the lines of heavily armored troopers.


As for HK, he could be seen on the back of one of the rock Kar'zun, his arms around the golem-like being's neck, his cloak fluttering and armor shaking as the large being tried to shake the droid off,

"Watch those rockets for friendly fire!"

The droid warned Chaff who seamed to favor the self propelled projectiles so far.


"Sprite fellows, are they not?"

The droid quipped as the Kar'zun tried to attempt to shake him off, the grip of the machine tightening until finally with a crock and plop the being's head popped off and the robot slid off of the giant as he collapsed.


Spinning about he build up the speed, cloak whooshing like wings as he launched the head towards one of the Kar'zun charging their defenses, with a crack one head slammed against the other and the being fell back, its charge stopping in instant, which head prevailed was undetermined as HK activated his lightsaber once more.


"Keep holding the line! We will have them on the run in no time!"

HK called out over the thunder and chaos of battle, one of the Kar'zun swung at him and the machine parried the slam aside with his training saber, white blade sounding out electronically in the air as he unholstered his shattergun sidearm and pressed the barrel to the being's chest. He pulled the trigger and the rock creature's back exploded with the exit wound, chunks of stone flesh and inner matter flying about as the being collapsed before the machine.



Meanwhile, in space,

A flash of light would be seen as more ships jumped into the system, it was the Dancing Queen leading the reinforcements, and soon enough, starfighters and transports would come pouring out from the metal giant's belly.

 

[Vaena Askari]

Space:


It was probably for the best that [member="HK-36"] had contacted the Star Queen because Tarissa Cadalthor had been seriously considering defining the suddenly appearing Abregado-Rae ships as hostile and requesting the ground-based Tempest turbolaser cannons to open fire upon their battleship. After all, Kaeshana was being invaded by the rock demons, so in her somewhat paranoid mind at least it would not be implausible that the machines were trying use this as a chance to take over!



No, Tarissa did not like the Protectorate much, beyond seeing it as a useful place to trade with and gain technology from. She also did not like independent droids, for they were not creations of Ashira. However, the transmission she received from the Ashira's Wrath put her General Ripper tendencies in abeyance. "It's confirmed by the Palace and Countess Kerrigan. The Abregado-Rae flotilla has come to aid us," the comms officer reported after having played the transmission.


"I see," Tarissa said icily, in a tone that could freeze half the Galaxy. "I guess their loyalty is commendable, if that's what it is. Provided they do not use this as a childish excuse to demand concessions from us by claiming they 'saved Kaeshana'. And their troops leave after the battle is over and the obligatory victory party has been held." Whilst she had been exposed to the larger Galaxy a great deal during what amounted to an exile before she had returned after Tirathana the Sixth's death, Tarissa was fiercely protective of Kaeshana's independence. Besides, you could never know when the droids might decide to rebel and wipe out all organics. If the gentle reader were to get the impression that the Eldorai was a bit of a queen, then they would be correct in their assumption.


"Very well, send a transmission to the...what's their battleship called again?"


"The Dancing Queen, ma'am. A trophy from the battle with a cult of inferior Vong savages at the Silken Asteroids," a bridge officer helpfully supplied.


"Ah, yes, that battle. Lady Kerrigan never stopped bragging about it. Shame we don't have a bioweapon handy to wipe out all Vong. No matter, send a transmission requesting the Dancing Queen join us in firing upon the asteroid. Instruct them to keep their fighters away from it though, we need a clear line of fire," The asteroid in question being about 4km long, in other words fething massive. At this juncture the heavy guns of the Ashira's Wrath, the Tirathana Skyport and a host of smaller ships, along with Kerrigan-Class Bombers, were pounding it and its engines had been disabled, but it was still hurtling towards Kaeshana.


Tarissa turned slightly to look upon [member="Elanil Saedaris"]. "Space is clear of fighters and you have a clear line of fire, can you fire your device? As you can see, we have new guests. I think it would be a good idea to show them what marvellous destruction Eldorai science can cause, don't you?" A xenophobic, religious fundamentalist Tarissa might be, but she was a fan of advanced technology. For it was the gift that the Goddess had given the Eldorai so that they might achieve their rightful place in the universe and the hierarchy of beings.



Ground:


At the edge of the city of Santaissa, a rather one-sided battle was being fought. As a matter of fact, calling it a battle might be too generous an euphemism. Against the overwhelmning firepower that was being deployed against them, the Kar'zun hordes were outclassed. They were already being decimated by the Eldorai troops when the Abregado-Rae soldiers landed. Now every avenue of retreat was being cut off. The thunder and chaos of battle was deafening, but the invaders were being positively slaughtered.


"Fight, fight to the last stone! Avenge Vak'zahr! It is the will of Zak'zada! Kar'zun will not bend or yield," a general of the stone people, wearing dated battle armour and dark grey skin, before he was blinded by a powerful wind delivering an onslaught of dust, then a torrent of lightning brought him to his knees and finally an APE round fired from an MK1 boltgun pierced his rocky skull and ended him. The elite guards of the general fought on bravely as they clashed with the steel and ferocity of the Angelii, the avenging angels of Ashira who delivered the wrath of the goddess. In the vicious melee the Kar'zun had the advantage of far superior strength and indeed there were Eldorai who were simply smashed by them as the stone warriors charged into battle, heedless of the fact that they were outnumbered. But against the brutal, but doomed onslaught the phalanx held.


A phalanx made of sarzmigar pikes, sarixi and Taegis shields, backed up by a bombardment with bolters and shattercannons. Sarzmigar pierced even the natural armour of Kar'zun, shattercannons and bolters blew them apart. Rock creature upon rock creature exploded and once the smoke cleared chunks of stone flesh and inner matter lay strewn across the ground. By the power of the terramancers among the Angelii, Kar'zun were crushed or found themselves truly turning to stone, their own nature turned against them. The most fanatical of the Kar'zun had gone to the city, as evidenced by the fact that some were so driven to try and death charge the Eldorai's tanks or the battle beasts HK had deployed. Thus none tried to surrender and so soon the only ones left were ruined corpses.

 

[Darth Libertas]

Santaissa, far away from all the drama.


Far away from all the fighting and the impressive but terribly one-sided melee between the Eldorai and the Iron Company on the one hand and the Kar'zun invaders on the other, a bar located in one of the more squalid areas of the so called Visitors' Quarter of Santaissa had been completely and utterly laid to waste. A good deal of the building's had been blown apart and caved in, almost all of the furniture had been completely and utterly wrecked and by now flames were spreading.


The bar was being burnt to a crisp and with it the corpses that lined the floor. Dead bodies of Eldorai, Kar'zun, humans and various aliens. The chaos had been beautiful and delightful. A single Eldorai was still alive and running, gripping a sword and a blaster pistol tight as she quickly escaped the scene of the bar fight that had turned into a massacre. She was certain that she had shaken off the alien who had caused so much misery and chaos, who had slain her sistes and then vanished into thin air when she tossed a fireball at her.


Her speeder was close by, just around that block. Given the fact that Kaeshana was being invaded by the heinous rock demons, it would take time before the constabulary arrived. Just a few metres more, she could already see her speeder from afar. Then suddenly she heard noise and almost winced at the sound before controlling herself as she stopped in her tracks, weapons at the ready, but then she saw that it was just a Jester scurrying around and looking for food in trash.


Then suddenly she heard words, coming from an elf girl lying upon the ground. Her hair was a dirty blonde and there were clear burns on her face, her clothes had seen wear and tear. She gave the Eldorai a relieved, pained smile with bloodstained lips, but then her expression turned to fright. "Behind you." Acting on instinct the Eldorai quickly spun, ready to swing her blade and lay down death upon whichever xenos was assailing them. Perhaps it was the shifter abomination who had massacred so many in the bar. Then suddenly, without warning, she suddenly felt a burning sensation of intense pain shoot through her body as an energy blade, a lightsabre, ran through her back. Luckily for her, she had managed to dodge just slightly and so the blade missed her heart by inches, but such was the pain that she keeled over.


Her hand went for her blaster on instinct but a booted foot kicked it aside and trode upon her hand as the shape manifested. The Eldorai girl from before was now standing and held the lightsabre. As the Dark Eldorai looked into the eyes of the girl she saw the sulfuric yellow of the demon from the bar. "I said...behind you, silly," the blood-stained, bruised lips of Naamah Aesham curved into a sadistic, almost feral smile. Orange coloured tendrils leapt from her and enveloped the screaming Eldorai, who found herself drained as the darksider gourged herself upon her. As it turned out Naamah was very hungry. The fact that her victim spent those moments screaming, thrashing and struggling was just icing on the cake. The contact was momentarily broken when the Eldorai managed to summon enough concentration to summon a powerful fireball and toss it at Naamah. The alien was too late to summon the power of the Force and so she was brought to her knees as the flames enveloped her, fires spreading across her body as she was burnt.



Gasping for breath, the Eldorai tried to rise...but then Naamah...got back up again, dissipating the flames. Her clothes had been burned to a crisp and under the strain her features had been transformed, returning her to her natural reptilian appearance, that of a Clawdite. Her teeth, which seemed more like fangs, were bared in an almost animalistic manner. "Naughty. I don't like it when my dinner bites back. I like to hear it scream though," The last moments the Eldorai spent alive consisted of intense, excruciating agony as the shifter wrapped her telekinetic willpower around her heart, her physical fingers tightening into a fist, as she crushed it.


Naamah bent down and, putting her lightsabre away and retrieving her vibro-knife, efficiently cut off the elf's ears. "I don't think you'll be needing those anymore, sweetie," she said in what was a disturbingly swee tone before she licked at the blood, then stuffed the ears in a small jar, which vanished in her backpack. Those cute little ears would make a nice addition to her collection. Then she took the Eldorai's clothes and put them on after casting aside her burnt ones. Reaching out with the Force and stretching her senses, she let her mind wander as she soaked up all the conflict and discord across the city, bathing in the beautiful violence that was taking place, the thunderous roars and chaos of battle. She was a bit disappointed about the fact that the Kar'zun were clearly losing, but not her problem. There was far too much chaos for her to pinpoint someone exactly, though based on the whirlwind of emotions and self-loathing she had felt from [member="Mirien Valdier"] before, she doubted that the woman would be participating in battle.


The time for a reunion would come...one day, but not now. And so Naamah called upon the power of the Force, gripping at its tangled webs. A cloak of shadows, rendering her invisible to organic and droid alike, wrapped around her and she disappeared into the darkness that was her home.

 

[Aeda Shaytari]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Being given orders by Siobhan might have turned Aeda's stomach were she a more regular Eldorai. As it was, when her own very being was something of an ordained secret, it merely struck her as one more command to follow. And, of course, it was what she was going to do anyway, which made it easier.
"Understood."

Looking to her Angelii she raised her Sarzmigar, holding it perpendicular over her head. "Form phalanx!" she called, her voice being transmitted into every Angelii's helmet.
With commendable speed they formed into a dense wall, Taegis shields forward, first rank with Sarixi drawn, rows behind with their Sarzmigari prepared. In battle they would close on the enemy in tight formation, absorb the enemy charge whilst the rear ranks used their spears, then break into open order to fight.
On the Kar'zun came, incredibly bravely resisting the hail of shot and shell that tore into their ranks. On the road the two sides clashed as the surviving invaders charged up the slope and clashed with the wall of energy shields. The Kar'zun projectile weapons were reflected away mostly, though some got through and the block reformed, pressing down the hill in silence. Aeda was in the front rank, beside her battle sisters, waiting.

Then, as they were close, she raised her Sarzmigar again and dropped it. "For Ashira!" she cried. The cry was taken up and they charged forward to melee combat. Moving as a unit they cut down several of their enemies before they could form, but then the battle began in earnest and the Angelii broke into pairs, one to attack, one to defend the other.

Aeda took up her shield, defending the Angelii near her as she unleashed a blast of lightning at the nearest Kar'zun. The energy made the rock demon stagger, and Aeda's Sarzmigar caught him in the throat in a weak point and toppled him. A second stab finished it off.
As she had dispatched one though her Sciia warned her, and she ducked as a massive maul passed over her head. A second blow she turned aside, though the impact almost broke her arm. A stab into the creature's leg only seemed to make it angrier. Her companion blasted lightning again, but this Kar'zun, a leader of some sort seemed protected from the electrical discharge.
Again it came, bearing Aeda back, almost knocking her down. She decided to switch strategies, and charged under the next swing and rammed the Kar'zun with her activated shield. The discharge hurt her enemy, but she didn't have the strength to knock him down, and was knocked sprawling by a counter.

Grand Seraph and Kar'zun watched each other. The other Angelii's lightning again dissipated. "Maeda, leave him. Aid your sisters," Aeda ordered.
Reluctantly Maeda did so, leaving the two champions to duel. Around them the Kar'zun were being defeated, cut to pieces, but still their chief stood.
Suddenly, faster than seemed possible, he leapt forward, his great maul trying to crush her, but Aeda skipped aside and stabbed. Again his hide was too thick to make it dangerous, but he charged again, faster again, and this time she had to defend herself. The shield protected her, to a point, but the impact was too great to resist, and her Taegis shattered into pieces, and she fell to the ground, her arm broken by the impact.

Looming over her, the Kar'zun wasted no words, but brought his maul up to strike her where she lay, but Aeda rolled to her feet, wincing at the agony in her left arm and leapt forward herself, abandoning her Sarzmigar and rolling between the Kar'zun's legs. Coming up the other side, barely fighting down the agony, she drew her Sarix, and before her enemy could stand her blade had hewn the back of his leg. Such was the force, even one handed, that it nearly severed the limb. The Kar'zun fell in agony to one knee, and she stepped forward and hacked down on the back of its neck, just between helmet and collar, and with a flash her blade cut through the rock like it was mist and the Kar'zun fell beheaded to the ground.

Her enemy defeated, Aeda fell to one knee, barely keeping herself from sobbing from the agony. With almost super-Eldorai will she rose to her feet as her comrades ran forward.
"Take the survivors prisoner, look to our wounded. Report our victory to the Countess."
At that moment she fell again, helped by several Angelii and medics. Drugs soon helped Aeda Shaytari rest as around her the battle began to wind down.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Aeda Shaytari"], [member="HK-36"]



"Countess, Grand Seraph Shaytari reports that the invaders have been defeated," a messenger from the Angelii called out to Siobhan when she finally reached her, clearly out of breath after having faced the attackers alongside Aeda.


Siobhan put down the macrobinoculars with which she had been watching the scene from afar and turned to look at the soldier, giving her a nod. "Good work. I've received confirmation that we stand victorious at Dusk and the city. Get me a casualty list. How's the Grand Seraph?"


"Yes, ma'am. She was seriously injured, but healers are seeing to her," Maeda reported crisply.


Siobhan found herself wondering how much help from medics the woman would accept. Of course, given how prideful Siobhan was, she could not exactly judge! "Good. I want her to get the best care. We have prisoners?" at that the Angelii nodded. "Make sure they're treated sternly, but decently. Dismissed." Then she got out her comm device and sent a message to the Palace, using the special frequency she had been given to contact the Queen with.


"Anya, it's me. We've beaten the enemy at the Citadels. A force of native Kar'zun seems to come to our aid at Dusk. Our Tempest cannons are keeping up a barrage against the asteroid." With the invaders being badly mauled and decimated on the outskirts of the city, the only battle that really had to be fought was the one in space against the massive asteroid.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Meanken"],


"They are on the run!"

The machine announced as with a good strike he knocked a rock giant unconscious with his training lightsaber, indeed the invader forces were being quickly pushed back and their morale decimated,

"Use non-lethal means! We are taking prisoners!"

At those words, which would echo on the soldiers and war droids' HUD's in writing the roar of the Shattergun Rotary Cannons would cease as troops switches instead to blunt weapons like the Batons of Rae, which were more or less fancy shock batons with which you could plant enough blunt force to knock someone out in case electricity wasn't working.

"Non-lethal means!"

Some of the troops echoed in confirmation of the order.

Either way, although many Kar'zun laid dead already, the Iron Company followed the orders and prisoners were being captured, after all HK was not the ruthless slaughter machine many thought him to be!


"Chaff! Where are you, you still alive?"

The war droid would look through the ceasing chaos and confusion of the battle, looking for the young merc to see whether he made it, or whether he was among the dead or wounded.

"Chaff!"

The machine repeated before sending a message to the Eldorai command,


[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Aeda Shaytari"], [member="Tarissa Cadalthor"],

"This is Iron Knight, we are victorious by your capital, we are taking what remains of the Invaders into captivity."

Reporting the success on the battlefield



Meanwhile, in Space,


The Dancing Queen, the Siege Tower, and any and all ships they have brought alongside have indeed coordinated to help in the defense of Kaeshana, many of the vessels turning sideways to perform broad-side bombardment onto the large asteroid still hurled towards Kaeshana. The Dancing Queen allowed her guns to sing as well, however, her biggest contribution was in scrambling its gunships and bombers, the smaller vessels aboard the hive-like ship performing bombing runs and tactical strikes on precise points of the asteroid to crack it that much easier.

With the combined firepower of the reinforcements, Eldorai fleet, and planetary defenses the asteroid would not last much longer.

 

[Meanken]

Chaff was busy contemplating how, exactly, the droid expected him to use non-lethal attacks on the fleeing foe all of a sudden. He had been told the job was to bust in and destroy anything in his way, so he wasn't exactly equipped for non-lethal combat. All of his armaments were lethal, and he doubted whacking the things in the head with the non-pointy end of the pike would do much.

"Chaff! Where are you, you still alive?"

Well, never mind, time to report in.

"Ya boss, over here!" He yelled at the droid.

"Chaff!"

Guess the droid diden't hear em. He would turn away from the modest pile of body's he'd created holding off the rock things and fire a quick burst of fire into the air, making sure to aim it so no one got hit.

"Over here, boss!"

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Meanken"],


"Oh there you are."

The droid quipped as he finally found Chaff, the remnants of Kar'zun being knocked down and taken in chains to be hauled away as prisoners and transferred over to Kaeshana,

"You did good out there."

The machine commended Chaff, deactivating his lightsaber and clipping it onto his belt,

"How would you feel about a promotion?"

HK tilted his head

 

[Meanken]

"Well, probably not gonna say no if ya wanna do that."

Course he wasn't gonna say no. He could always use the pay raise, and he damn sure didn't wanna stay a grunt forever.

"But, of course, I'd have to hear the exacts of the offer."

Never sign up for something unless ya know exactly what they're gonna expect in return. First rule of negotiating.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Meanken"],

The machine shrugged,

"You would be climbing one rung higher on the rank ladder, you would be a Private First Class, better paycheck and gear, you could lord it over normal Privates, but you will also be more likely to be sent on more dangerous missions."

HK explained,

"That would be pretty much it, not like you are becoming an officer, it is only first step in your climb to higher ranks."

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Elayne Saedaris"]


The guns had fallent silent and the smoke had cleared, the storm subsided. Those attackers who had survived the great storm had been slaughtered by the Kar'zun natives or forced to submit. Those trying to flee had found that their efforts had been in vain. Still Silaqui-class Gunships and Adril-class fighters coursed through the sky on patrol, though there was no one left to slay.



A cynical person might make some informed commentary about the fact that the Kar'zun who called Kaeshana their home had come to the aid of the Eldorai, their archenemies, against their returned brethren, the Legion of the Damned. Such as the fact that otherwise Eldorai conservatives would have likely clamoured for the Queen to finish what Ariane the Great had started and wipe the decimated population of 'Arishi' from the face of the planet, forever.


Kaida happened to be a very cynical person. She was also happy about the fact that the battle was over and further bloodshed would hopefully be avoided. She would not have relished the idea of having to play 'peacekeeper' in the Kar'zun communities if the rock people and the Eldorai came to blows. "Take the survivors prisoner. Leave the...allied Kar'zun in peace," she said laconically to one of her Angelii Host Leaders, giving a nod of appreciation to Elayne. The girl was far too snarky for her own good, but had shown promise with the storm she had helped unleash.


Taking off her helmet, Kaida ran a hand through her sweat-matted blonde hair, taking a deep breath. Then abruptly there was a surge of the Force inside her as she reached out to seize the air currents and shift them. A small wind formed and began to whip around her as she used her Sciia to lift off into the sky, descending down from the mountains towards the plains where Tempest was. She was clearly still new to this and by now quite not filled with energy, so she did this in a less than graceful manner and was still quite wobbly, but she manged to glide down and land upon the ground without accident. "You alright?" she asked Tempest before her eyes turned towards Representative Nar'dvan. "Thank you for your assistance."

 

[Meanken]

[member="HK-36"]

Chaff shrugged.

"Alright, fair enough. More dangerous missions are the fun ones anyway." He would say as he reached out to shake the droids hand in acceptance.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Meanken"],

He would squeeze Chaff's hand in a shake before motioning to his other soldiers,

"Alright, let us clean up this mess, pack the barricades and turrets onto the dropships, get the prisoners sorted and ready for the transport."


HK would contact the Kaeshana's forces then, [member="Aeda Shaytari"], and Firemane's, [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

"HK here, we just finished our battle by the capitol, we are packing up our gear and we have a group of prisoners ready for your transport. I will station my ships in your orbit for a while so we can get debriefing and a bit of R&R done before I will head back to Abregado's territory."


He would look back to Meanken after sending the transmission,

"Once you get back to Siege Tower you can take off your armor and take a couple of days off, see some sights, Kaeshana is a very beautiful planet."