Shadows of the Empire: The Dominion Dom of Helska IV and Paxin Sul

[Dune Rhur]

​

Helska IV​

​

Objective 1: Enter the old Imperial research facility and remove any possible technology that could fall into the wrong hands.

Objective 2: Bring your own objective.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Post 1
Objective 1
Allies: None as yet.
Enemies: None as yet.

Helska IV, Dalonbian Sector, Outer Rim

The planet Helska IV loomed large through the transparisteel viewscreen. The pilot couldn't help but find this icy planet beautiful in a stark way. Beneath this glistening core he knew there were deep waters. Things were different where he'd come from.

The Bith pilot banked the craft towards the surface. Behind him was a larger vessel which stayed a reasonable distance back. No need to descend with a ship of war. They were not here as conquerors.

He took the entry nice and easy. He was in no rush. Where he was going had been there for a long time. It wasn't likely the buildings would be growing legs and running away.

Some of Dune Rhur's fellows would be helping beings in need here. He would be making certain the past didn't come back to haunt anyone....

 

[Tyberius Fel]

Vorian peered to the icy marble that was Helska swell larger and larger until it entirely consumed the viewpoint of his shuttle. The planet, in every sense of the world, was breath taking. Oceans like pools of shimmering sapphires although it lacked endless green plains fresh and ripe with pollen like other, warmer planets. Of course that consequently meant that some cretin had to run about massacring civilians for no other reason than it tickled their fancy at the moment.

The shuttle came to the surface and the doors slid open with a sharp hiss. Vorian stepped out from it's interior, flanked with a few men of the 501st that Cedric was gracious enough to allow him to requisition. Of course, they wouldn't do any fighting. Peacekeeping and aid-rending were the orders of the day and if things went swimmingly enough, the government of Dubrillion had made insinuations that they would be open to peacefully joining the Dominion.

Vorian spared a few hours of his time performing a few cursory inspections of the Dominion Relief Corps giving vaccines and handing out rations to those beset by poverty. Although none of the Helskan citizens knew he was a Sith nor were has he anything but amiable, Vorian noticed the odd glances and hesitance he received from the local population. They could see something was.. off about him.

I'll have to work on that. Vorian thought to himself with a frown. Not that it mattered at the moment, as his true objective was the Imperial Research Facility in the hills and the lost knowledge it held. Just as he began the trek, he heard a familiar voice calmly issue directions from the open channel on his Commlinks.

Silvery wisps of hair rose up on the back of the Arkanian's neck.

Dune?

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Objective 1
Post: 1/20

Paxin Sul: they etch dangerously close to the Sith Ascendancy capital. Once again, as was the case on Serenno, they are here to rebuild a spaceport destroyed by the Primeval. From Taris she realized that a beach resort on Paxin Sul should be situated next to the spaceport, because that's the main draw to Paxin Sul (and that was repeatedly asked by Cademimu residents, too, alongside Dubrillion); other than that, salt and seafood. With the Maersk of Lanteeb being rotated to Hijarna until the colony is finished, Dunames had to make do with the Tofolk of Hijarna, the newest Tofolk-class unit in service. Once the Tofolk of Hijarna has reverted to realspace, Merrily was triggered by another one among the bridge crew when asked about the scope of the project that the Dominion asked Star Tours to do on Paxin Sul. The scope was a bit larger than usual: the crewmember was there for all four of Kaeshana, Subterrel, Trian and Serenno.

"Why are we using a ship that small to build a spaceport like this?" the crewmember asked.

"Ask Dunames, the frakking Polydroxol"

"The spaceport has been destroyed by the Primeval but I couldn't use another Maersk for this project, even though a Maersk was just the right size for the project to be done. That was the largest ship we could use for this"

"All right"

 

[Riamah]

Objective 2
Post 1/20

Ra had practically attached herself to the hip of [member="Dune Rhur"], choosing to spend as much waking time with him. He was sent on a mission to Helska IV along with a few others for the different objectives of the mission. She knew one of them was to render aid to the local populace and bring peace and order there. However, Ra is not a good people person so that part would be left to others.

She was a passenger on his transport shuttle and made small conversation with him on the journey there.

Looking out of the shuttle's windows as they approach the surface, her breath is almost taken away. The blueness of the world breath taking, the differences between the layers of ice, snow and the deep blue of the frozen ocean.

"What are we going to do when we arrive?"

[member="Vorian Adasca"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

Objective 2
Post 2
Allies: @Ra'a'mah
Enemies: [member="Vorian Adasca"] ?

"We're going to make sure an old Imperial research station really is out of commission," Dune replied.

A little while later they were planetside. Walking through the snow he took in everything. There was no noise but the howling of the wind and the crunch of his heavy boots. He held his heavy robe closed with a gloved hand.

He stopped a moment and took in the surroundings. Things were different from Eol Sha but not so much. There were still mountains but of ice and snow. It was just as desolate yet he was pleased to be rid of the sulfurous stink.

The Bith turned his head to comment to Ra but his mouth snapped shut. Off in the distance he saw a robed figure. This one's aura was somehow different and yet....

Vorian? Was it really Vorian?

 

[Tyberius Fel]

"Go link up with the rest of the men and assist the local population." Vorian dismissed the 501st soldiers with a nod of the head.

Ignoring the all too familiar sensation, he flicked a crimson zeyd-cloth hood over his head and continued his trek towards the research center in the hilly footholds of the icy planet.

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Darth Eversor]

Like a shadow, Abraxas followed suit with the rest of his Dominion allies. He was here for one man, and one man only. [member="Vorian Adasca"]. They had served some time together on the dreaded, decaying planet of Taris. A palce as such could be likened ot a nightmare, its settlements agape like angry wounds that spilled outward with the plagued unfortunates known as Rakghouls. A fine, bloody battle that was in the memory of the darkly Epicanthix warrior.

Landing a-ways back from his Sith brethren's shuttle, Abraxas hastened himself to catch up to him. The locals whispered among themselves, staring daggers at the ominously clad stranger; however, Abraxas didn't take notice nor even care. In another time, he may have advanced upon them and struck them down, dashing their crimson across their otherwise beautiful planet.

"Vorian, there you are." The Sith spoke firmly, appearing an almost entirely different attire. One more... fitting for a individual of his taste. "I received word of an Imperial research station, is this true? If so, then I am quite interested to say the least."

[member="Vorian Adasca"] | [member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Tyberius Fel]

When Abraxas came upon him, he found Vorian knelt over a shallow ditch, carefully searching the skeletal body clad in a tattered Imperial uniform. A flash of something plastic, perhaps a keycard, was removed from one it's pockets and stored within the flowing confines of Vorian's black and tyrian robings. He stood to his full willowy height, flickering his gaze, burning with the sulfuric corruption of the dark side, upon the hulking armored bulk of Abraxas who's approach was by no mean subtle.

"Abraxas? Hm, yes, interesting to discover you here." He clasped his hands together, conjoining his drooping sleeves. "If you're willing to be careful and follow my directions when necessary, I have no quarrel with sharing the technology within." There was no arrogance in Vorian's caveat. Imperial bases were known to occasionally be extensively booby-trapped, and perhaps it was a sign that the Sith Sorcerer saw some potential in the warrior that he bothered to protect him for being accidentally blown to smithereens.

[member="Abraxas"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

Dune looked back to his student and canted his head towards the Station. There wasn't time for a full explanation. He redoubled his speed through the ice and snow. She would have to keep pace.

Off in the distance he noticed another being speaking to Vorian. Another Dark presence that he'd felt before. Abraxas had come too. Perhaps they thought to acquire some old Imperial technology for themselves.

Dune wasn't so certain exactly what would be in the station. Perhaps not much of anything. Or possibly the cold had acted like some kind of storage locker. Certainly it wouldn't be very good for tech if climate control had failed.

Off beyond the two Sith he could now make out the Station. It seemed totally inactive but Dune wasn't convinced. Surely there'd be safeguards. He'd have to let his student know.

He slowed as they drew within a hundred paces or so. The Jedi turned and waited a moment for Ra.

"These are Sith," he told her quietly "Nominally our allies but be wary all the same."

[member="Vorian Adasca"] [member="Abraxas"]

 

[Riamah]

Ra followed [member="Dune Rhur"] closely and as silently as the snow covered ground allowed her. However, their height difference allowed him to pull further ahead and he stopped to wait for her. He informed her of the two figures she saw in the distance and blushed when she recognized @Abraxas. Not long ago she had gone on a mission with Cedric to retrieve a Dread Seed and its darkness had touched her. At one point, she had threatened the Sith with one of her knives if he tried to steal the seed and disappear with it.

"Yes, they will have their own agenda in this..."

She let her voice trail off and looked at the other form with Abraxas. He would have stood out in any crowd, but on this desolate planet, he seemed to blend in with the surroundings.

"I'm sure if anything was left, that would be gone by now."

For now, they stood, watching the other pair converse and Ra hoped the other Sith didn't hold any grudges against her.

[member="Vorian Adasca"]

 

[Tyberius Fel]

Vorian Adasca was no craven.

He did not garb himself with the label of the most hated organization in the galaxy only to scurry away like a frightened boy at those disappointed glossy eyes of Dune's. No, he'd confront the consequences of his choices; one of Dune's lessons.

"If you'd excuse me for a moment, I have a reunion." He nodded to [member="Abraxas"] before treading across the snow ladden surface of Helska IV to [member="Dune Rhur"] and Ra'a'mah.. An Arkanian born and raised, he had little difficulty navigating nimbly across snow and it was not long until his willowy frame, garbed in rich robes of black silk and trimmed lilac stood infront of Master and Apprentice, hands clasped together cordially.

"Greetings, Master Rhur." There was a undeniable tension in the air, despite Vorian's best efforts. He flickered his gaze to to the snowy haired girl. "I see I am replaced."

@Ra'a'mah

 

[Darth Eversor]

Abraxas nodded to his Arkanian comrade, keeping to himself as he observed the vast, white-out landscape before him. A mirror into his very soul, one that was still just as cold as before but with the sign of a fire growing within; albeit small, it was roaring and standing defiant with the morality of what is truly just. The galaxy did not deserve more bloodshed, but alas, it was the only true way to bring about any form of peace.

What truly piqued the butcher's interest however, was the very idea of seeing the old remnants of the Empire. A nostalgic trip that would hearken back to Abraxas' days as an enforcer for the government.

[member="Vorian Adasca"] | [member="Dune Rhur"] | @Ra'a'mah

 

[Dune Rhur]

Dune stepped forward to meet [member="Vorian Adasca"] and looked directly into radioactive yellow eyes.

"Vorian," he said stonily "I sense the Dark Side in you."

He saw the Sith's eyes flick to Ra.

"You were not replaced. You were Knighted when the Force told me you were ready."

There was no denying the thunderclouds of tension between them. Old teacher and student conveying so much without words. Vorian knew Dune as well as the Bith knew the Arkanian. No dramatics were needed here.

"Knighted as a Jedi," he went on "But I see you have fallen in your absence. Dark knowledge has always held a special fascination for you. But know that the powers of a Sith are not real power. If you don't come away from it, the Darkness will consume you."

He gestured to the younger man. Much younger than his old teacher he was already deathly pale even for his species. Dune could see blue veins and there was a stoop in the way Vorian held him. Dune was decades older but far better preserved.

The middle-aged Bith look years young. He moved much as he had fifteen years prior. All thanks to the life preserving powers on the Light side of the Force. That was real power.

"What the Sith have told you are lies, Vorian," he said "Look what cost you have already paid. And for what?"

"The ability to kill, maim and destroy?," said the Master "That is nothing. Any thug with a club can do that. The ability to sustain life and to preserve it is true strength. The Dark side cannot do this; it can only twist and corrupt. You have traded the truth for convenient lies."

[member="Abraxas"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Objective 1
Post: 2/25

"What the frak? How many spaceports did the Primeval destroy in this region? Paxin Sul, Serenno, Dubrillion, Cademimu-Flashpoint..." another crewmember asked, upon mentioning that the Primeval destroyed spaceports.

"You forgot Mirial but Mirial was more than just Sithspawn-induced destruction of spaceports"

Puzzling that Star Tours was brought in to systematically rebuild the majority of the spaceports in this region that were destroyed by the Primeval, with the exception of Muunilinst and Bastion... it was one of the main symbols of the First Order in this region. Or at least as long as she was associated with the First Order. By now the Tofolk of Hijarna made its descent towards Paxin Sul's tropical region: one of those diamonds in the rough that were often underestimated as a result, perhaps, of those spaceport-destroying cultists that destroyed every single spaceport they could find, as a prelude for the usual massacres that follow. Meanwhile, Dunames initiates the landing sequence into an area that will soon be cleared of rubble so that a temporary facility can be built which, at later stages, will be reduced to a lesser role, except for the control tower of course, which will pretty much remain identical no matter how big the spaceport is expected to be on a world like Paxin Sul.

"Landing sequence initiated"

 

[Tyberius Fel]

A rasp of frigid air, beckoned by a sharp inhale, cooled Vorian's lungs. His spindly hand ran through his wispy silver mane of hair, a tense smile splitting his visage like a fissure in the flesh of a maggot.

"You're incorrect, Master. It isn't about the power. It isn't about dreams of nubile women nor the riches of subjugated worlds." A glimmer of reluctance briefly flashed within those feline yellow irises, only to vanish as immediately as it came and be replaced by a ironclad resolve.

"Sith will always exist in the Galaxy. We have learned the hard way that you can extinguish that wretched ideology no more than you can snuff out the flames on Mustafar." The Arkanian circled Dune and his apprentice in an almost predatory manner, robes flowing about his cadaverously slender figure like oily midnight.

"So. I have taken it upon myself to lead them. You see, they are all but rabid hounds unchained. But I intend to leash them, tame them. There will be no unnecessary slaughter, no pillaging, no women and children toiling away in the serfdom of petty bargain-bin despots. They will still be a cruel and vicious evil, but one restrained by my power." Vorian paused, back now straightened with a certain regality to his ambitions.

"And if I don't? If you.. stop me?" A quiet chuckle tore it's way free from his throat, entirely devoid of humor. "There will be those who will lead the Sith. The vicious, the idiotic and the viciously idiotic. Men who would see rivers flow crimson with blood merely for the spectacle of it."

With an air of finality, Vorian sighed sadly.

"I know you understand."

[member="Dune Rhur"]
[member="Abraxas"]
@Ra'a'mah

 

[Dune Rhur]

"I understand that you've allowed your pride to lead you astray, Vorian," he replied.

Dune made no visible movements but he noted the Arkanian eyeing the young woman. He knew what Adasca was doing. Trying to provoke a reaction. The Bith wasn't going to bite on empty threats.

"It isn't your place to lead them. Their leaders are whomever has the strongest arm just then. Whoever has the most devious political scheme...until they are cast aside."

He followed the taller male's movements as he elaborated on his grandiose scheme.

"If you believe that you can be different, you delude yourself. The Sith cannot be led anymore than a wildfire can. You can only contain it until it burns itself out."

"And now?," he continued "Now you believe in noble intentions. So have other Jedi who have fallen. Didn't you spend hours studying the Archives, Vorian. Darth Vader thought he was doing what was best for the galaxy too."

"What you forget is that the Dark side will always corrupt you. It will consume every fibre of the being you once were."

[member="Vorian Adasca"] [member="Abraxas"]

 

[Riamah]

Ra stood silently next to Dune as he and [member="Vorian Adasca"] spoke to each other. Never one to have been really empathic, Ra could feel the tension between the two men. She listened closely to both their words and actions. [member="Dune Rhur"] projected an air of confidence in himself, his words and belief. While Vorian did the same thing, he lacked the full confidence of Dune. Glancing between the two of them and hearing what seemed to be an unending battle of Dark versus Light, one that these two would not be able to win.

What Vorian said is true, there will always be bad people in the galaxy as well as the good to fight them. She sides herself with Dune and stands solidly next to her master.

While her personal experience with Sith and Jedi are limited, Ra knows the good and the bad parts of life. She's been lucky to not have fallen to the Dark already, but will do her best to maintain her path to the light.

She watched as the man prowled around her and Dune, looking between the two of them as if they were prey. That's not something Ra is and she starts fingering one of the knife hilts she has up her sleeve.

@Abraxas

 

[Soeht]

Helska's Legacy

Dominion ships would register a sudden spike of heat at a certain point on Helska IV. The buildings that [member="Dune Rhur"], [member="Vorian Adasca"], [member="Abraxas"], and [member="Ra'a'mah"] were heading to came to life.

The research complex was not abandoned.

 

[Darth Eversor]

The feelings of allegiance flapped in the breeze like an unfurled banner, a small chasm being torn open in the Force by two opposites. Abraxas could feel the frustrations and passive-aggressive nature of his comrade, along with the troubled acceptance of the Jedi around him. Abraxas always despised the followers of Light, their philosophy and how they seemed to bargain their way out of conflict like words meant everything.

It was the actions of those willing to make the first move that bred victorious results, not a wishful mindset.

Becoming quite irritated with whatever rhetoric was trying to be used to assuage [member="Vorian Adasca"], Abraxas took it upon himself to approach and interject the group and their moment of intervention.

"Master Jedi, is there perhaps something you would wish to say to me as well? I feel quite the disturbance, an irritable quality escalating to the point of... well, I won't say aggression, because that isn't why we're here. I would suggest you keep to your traditions and we shall keep to ours, yes? I will not ask again."

The Sith stared daggers into the Jedi and whom would be assumed to be an apprentice. "There is work to be done."

Until everyone moved on, Abraxas stood after his commentary in total silence, fists clenched firmly.

@Ra'a'mah | [member="Dune Rhur"] | [member="Soeht"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

The Bith turned his head to regard [member="Abraxas"] coolly. A long moment passed before his lips curled into a polite smile. One that did not touch his eyes. He bobbed his over-sized cleft cranium in agreement.

"I agree, Sith. But there is something I wish to say to you: have a care. You are not invisible behind your mask."

He spared a final glance for [member="Vorian Adasca"]. This is not over his eyes told the Arkanian. With that he made the briefest eye contact with his apprentice and continued trudging towards the Station. Dune's lips curled down now.

Not at what had just transpired though it still occupied him somewhat. Rather there was an odd feeling in the air now. Perhaps the Sith would sense it too. He spoke quietly to Ra as they walked.

"Stay close, there's something amiss and I don't just mean our erstwhile allies."