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

[Darth Exode]

Location: Heslka IV
Objective: Survival
Nearby: [member="Grace Darkson"] | [member="Darth Rage"] | [member="Cairyn Midore"]
Posts: 2?

"Great. Survival Training. Haven't done that since Korriban . This should be fun... maybe." Ravana was the kind of person that could make pain and pleasure indiscriminate of each other, but even she wasn't prepared to say that this would be easy. "You are making me feel nostalgic, my dear. Master Trahison would do this to me all the time. If she wasn't trying to be kinky with me, her teenage Half Sith Pureblood, Half Zeltron Apprentice. She liked using a Lightwhip on a low setting in bed. Old witch was weird like that."

She began to walk at a steady pace South. Having been Train on Korriban and Zoist, she was used to environments like this, but it was folly to think that gave her enough of an advantage to triumph over the others, especially with her arms almost fully exposed to the winds, which would make sure they went first of frostbite was to set in. She just had to keep moving. She knew she could survive the 12 Kilometres to the South, well enough, but she would probably be frost nipped on the end.

 

[Cairyn Midore]

The Teevan slumped with an exaggerated sigh. "Survival? But that's no fun." Not when he didn't have every advantage, at least. Cairyn wasn't so foolish to think that he would last long in tests of endurance, nor did he have any interests in expressing any concerns he had. When Rage started stripping his armor, Cairyn was confused. He had half the mind to take the discarded weapon for his own (it seemed he was starting to amass a bit of a collection) yet a moment of better judgement had him deciding against it.

"Oh, alright, if I have to." He groaned, as if some unheard voice prompted him further. With that, he set off walking, the skip in his step now a bit diluted. As the cold started to sink in, he got a bit more physical with his movements, trying to get his blood pumping. From a doing a light jig to some back handsprings, until that ceased to entertain him.

[member="Darth Exode"] [member="Grace Darkson"] [member="Darth Rage"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

​

They'd begun to emerge in ones and twos now. Skeletal droids with glowing eyes gleaming with menace. They came on inexorably with their vibroblades and riot shields. These droids knew no fear or remorse.

Ra opened up with her blaster pistol and took out the first. Dune brought his azure blade across and beheaded the next. But still they came on with their alloy feet clanging on the floor. Another fell to his lightsaber but numbers began to tell.

He brought up his blade to parry the swinging vibroblade....

 

[Riamah]

The droid that had been coming after her, fell to Dune's lightsaber. The first wave had been defeated but there was more coming. Due to the door not being fully open, they needed to climb through one or two at a time. It made it easier to keep them under control.

No matter how good her shot or fast Dune worked, one still got through. Ra watched at the vibroblade swung down at her master. Without a thought, Ra used the Force to push it away from him, bringing her blaster up and fired a shot at it's head. Whether the shot connected or not, she saw the droid go flying across the control room and slam into the far wall on the side.

"Hey that was pretty good."

The heat of the battle, filled her veins and she turned to Dune with a smile.

"That's not all there is, is it?
Ready to dance?"
​
[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

"Stay in control of your emotions, apprentice," Dune chided her as her saw the excitement on her face. This was too close to the Dark Side even now in this situation. A Jedi was not led by emotion. They needed clarity of thought.

Her telekinetic display was well-timed. The stroke of the blade had been aimed for his back. It would've bit deep into his flesh and he'd have been compromised in his effectiveness. The Bith knew he had to stay alive to protect Ra who would surely be overwhelmed without him.

More began to pile out forcing him to give ground lest he be surrounded.

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Objective 1
Post: 10/25

The excavation of the sill plates of the hangar and the hypermatter reservoir was almost over, due to their diminutive size. The reservoir was big enough to contain about 1,000 cubic meters of hypermatter, while the hangar was a little larger: it was supposed to be large enough for one light freighter of the YT-1300 variety or equivalent. But that would mean two Neimoidian Yachts could be stored inside. That was to Star Tours' advantage: storing two Neimoidian Yachts whereas competitors' ships could only have one. However, here, the tiki style of spaceport recommended for making the best use of local materials for the terminal required that those materials be harvested further afield. On the neighboring islands perhaps.

"Perhaps some bamboo-built rooms with piles nearing the ocean might be an appealing locale, much like Yutan" the maître d'hôtel suggested.

"Yutan? Are you suggesting we used what we planned on Yutan but never could implement due to local entanglements?"

"Pretty much: eco-sensitive practices shall be used"

"Get the harvesting of the materials started, will you?"

 

[Riamah]

The almost overwhelming numbers of droids closed in around them, Ra realized her blaster wouldn't be much useful longer and put it away. In a move that was swifter than an eyeblink, she brought out her two knives from up her sleeves.

Starting with the one closest to her, she launched into the air to stab down at the connecting joints of the head and neck and moved droid to droid. Any that she missed and all in all, there weren't that many she hoped Dune was able to dismantle.

"I am in control. These guys aren't human so I'm not hurting anybody."

Her eyes, sparkling in the still flashing red light, from the blood flowing through her and excitement of the situation.

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

Dune was too busy in that moment to reply. He'd switched his stance to defensive now with blade held in tight. Wide attacks ran him the risk of being skewered from any direction. The Dark Troopers swung and he took off sword-arms.

They tried to close in when their only weapon was taken away. Ra's knives did for them. So close meant she held the advantage with quick stabbing motions and flicking slashes. Slowly the herd of alloy attackers was thinned out.

The Bith's saber impaled the last of them and it fell into a sparking heap. He stood up from his fighting crouch and his breathing was heavy. This encounter had only lasted moments but felt longer. It seemed to be over and he was about to say so when he heard more of the clanking footfalls.

He groaned inwardly. Would somebody turn off the karking alarms!

"Of course there's more," he shouted over the clamor while shaking his head in annoyance. More of the skeletal shapes were making their way towards them. A lot more. They began to file into the room and Dune looked to his apprentice.

"I suggest we fall back to the control room!"

 

[Riamah]

A brief lull in fighting occurred and Ra stopped moving. Looking around, she attempted to locate where the sound of blaring alarm was coming from. In the corner was one, but before she could put her knife away and blast it to silence, Dune spoke.

"There's always more."

Nodding at his words, Ra ducked through the door they had just been fighting at and waited for her master to join her.

It was only a little quieter in here if only because the ongoing alarm was sounding from the other side of the wall and not on in the room. She shook her head slightly to try and clear the could away from her hearing, working her jaw to try and get her ears to pop.

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

Dune also attempted to shake out the ringing in his auditory organs after following behind. He hoped this wasn't going to do anything permanent to his sensitive 'ears'. Bith were gifted musicians due to heightened hearing. But it also meant this actually hurt.

Then more of the skeletal droids poured into the control room. A dozen came into fill the gap. More seemed to be emerging from whatever was beyond. He stood ready to fend them off.

"We're not going to be able to hold this position indefinitely," he told Ra "We'll have to fall back slowly."

Indeed already his reserves of stamina were being pressed. Even a Jedi couldn't sustain hard combat forever. Dune was far from exhausted at this point but he knew he had to conserve his energy. Who knew how many more of these droids were lurking.

20/27

 

[Riamah]

Noticing the droids were hung up in the door, Ra pulled her blaster out again. She fired off a pray and spray move and took down another nine of them, however, three made it through and were dispatched by other means.

"They're going to try a pincer move and come from both in front of and behind us, Dune. There's not many other places we can go."

They might only be droids, but they must have a single controller system that would relay orders. Dune and Ra were in the control center, but none of the computers or systems were online. Even if they were she didn't have the knowledge of how to hack and get them shut down.

"What about blocking one of the doors you cut open?"

The durasteel he had cut still lay on the ground, though a bit more trampled than it had been.

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

Dune thought for a moment before he shook his head.

"They'll get through by sheer weight of numbers anyway," he replied "But you've given me an idea. Let's go!"

Ra was right that there weren't many places they could go. But there was the 'B' section and Dune hoped his prior experiences with Imperial facilities would prove useful. He turned and ran with apprentice in tow. Down the dimly lit corridor with Phase 1s in hot pursuit.

They just turned the corner when some kind of solid bullets were fired at them. Dune spared a look back to see they'd been missed by less than half a meter. These holes were large and would've ripped them to shreds. Something else had poured out with ranged weapons.

"Not good!," he shouted as they sprinted towards the 'B' section. He was hoping there would be some kind of self-destruction system in place there. Imperial facilities all seemed to have them. At least the alarms aren't as loud here.

He sprinted up to the B-wing doors and began to carve out as small a hole as he judged would fit them. The Bith told her to fend off the oncoming droids with her pistol. Meanwhile he worked as quickly as he could.

21/27

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Objective 1
Post: 11/25

Hoversleds. That was the only thing that the construction crews could use to get to the neighboring islands where they could harvest materials while taking care not to harvest too much from any one island. Sure they were a little slow but this was much better than nothing especially across the tropical islands of Pax Insul. Meanwhile, due to the nature of the soil, Dunames decided that sill plates were the way to go when it comes to ensuring the terminal's stability due to the softness of the ground. But, for now though, the piles of the control tower's foundations were to be poured into the ground, if only in a rather irregular fashion due to the softness of the soil. Curing continuously-reinforced duracrete was going to be pretty difficult in such a humid planet, and tarpaulins have to be set in place while the duracrete below is being cured.

 

[Grace Darkson]

Location: Helska IV
Objective: Sith Stuffs
Nearby: [member="Cairyn Midore"] | [member="Darth Rage"] | [member="Darth Exode"]
Posts: 3

Grace watched the others walk, amused at the Sith warrior's action of stripping away his armor. It may have slowed him down, but the armor would have afforded him an amount of protection against the bitter weather. But the man was good at proving himself. Part of her wondered if he knew more about the Force than she has assumed. Perhaps she'd have to figure that out.

Cairyn's lack of excitement, and his attempts to make his miserable lot out here enjoyable was a small piece of comfort to Grace. She was hoping the long walk would quench his spirits. "Don't over-exert yourself, kid!" she called to the boy, a small frown forced on her face. "You'll need the energy later." Why not let him die of exhaustion? Good question.

Ravana was interesting. The woman was simply accepting the task at hand, claiming to have done something similar on Korriban. "You'll find Helska IV a very different beast than Korriban, Ravana. The dry cold is much harder to withstand." And then there was the whole bit with her former master. Grace sighed, calling on the Force to insulate her. If they kept up like this, it could be a very long walk.

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Objective 1
Post: 12/25

Would these irregular foundations, spread along a dozen piles dug into the ground, be a boon or a liability? Dunames was no structural engineer but she would be able to tell that the foundations were going to be irregular: the soil was soft over the first few meters until the very last meter of planned depth, which may pose a few settling problems for those buildings that would require sill plates rather than semi-deep, pile-driven foundations. But, while the material-harvesting teams are out looking for suitable materials out in the islands, Dunames has to ask a question or two about the control tower's foundations.

"How long until the control tower's foundations are properly cured?"

"Two or three days, depending on the weather"

 

[Riamah]

Post 19

Ra found herself pulled along when Dune started running down the hallway the opposite direction of the oncoming droid army. Suddenly, she was almost knocked off her feet by heavier weaponry.

Regaining her balance, she rushed on, hoping, but not expecting any doors to be open. Her concerns her apt and she stood guard while Dune worked with his lightsaber to get a smaller hole opened for them into the room at the other end.

The droids were not as swift as they were and it took them a few minutes longer to arrive. She was ready for them and as they rounded the corner, she attempted to pick them off. If there were any missed by her blaster, she would push them away with the Force.

"Dune, I can't hold this up much longer!"

Though he had trained her well, Ra was starting to feel the strain of using so much Force and felt herself starting to weaken.

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Cairyn Midore]

Having transitioned from handspring to walking handstand, he looked up at Grace at the word 'kid'. Head cocked to the side, expression unnaturally blank, eyes unblinking, he head that stare for several uncomfortable moments before dropping back to his feet and trudging along with the group. It was one thing to deny him his fun, another to insult him while doing so.

"But fun makes things go faster," he said, slouching as he walked. Another shiver overcame him, this one genuine. With a huff in annoyance, he hummed a little tune under his breath, each phrase ending in the darker undertones of minor rather than his typical upbeat.

[member="Grace Darkson"] [member="Darth Exode"] [member="Darth Rage"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

"I'm working as fast as I can," he told her as the blade moved closer to it's goal. Slow and agonizing millimeter by millimeter. He could hear the droids and the blaster fire but he ignored it. If he didn't get this done they'd be dead.

Better to try and get shot in the process. Best to succeed. Even if they made a break for the outside these new attackers would snipe them as they ran. They'd not make it to their shuttle. Dune realized that almost instantly as they'd run towards 'B' wing.

Finally the work was done and he Force pushed the hole in.

"Let's go!," Dune said as he grabbed Ra and pushed her through the hole. A little roughshod but she'd understand. He followed along down another dimly lit corridor. Not far away was a security station.

A quick inspection found exactly what Dune was looking for. A self-destruct system. The problem was that it needed some kind of key card. Perhaps it was still here. If not....

The Bith rifled through the desk and cabinet drawers. Nothing. He moved his efforts to the lockers build into the back wall. A lightsaber was all the security code he needed.

Two lockers down and still nothing. Finally the third yielded results! There was a key card. He grabbed it up quickly and jammed the plastic-alloy rectangle into the hole.

He heard the tell-tall sounds of the vibro-sword armed droids hacking away at the door all the while. Ineffective as he'd hope. Unfortunately he'd not accounted for the others with the heavy guns. They brought their weapons to bear with great effect.

The door was quickly blown to nothing and Dune jammed the red button hard. The system beeped as it came on line. It's read-out displayed: activate facility self-destruct system; press button twice to continue. press and hold to cancel.

Dune mashed twice. It beeped again and read: self-destruct confirmed. T-minus 5 minutes....4:58....

Meanwhile a new kind of alarm reverberated through the building. He cringed. Humans and their dramatic alarms!

"Let's get out of this place, Ra," he told her and bolted through the station's doorway. Down the hall the vibrosword-armed automatons were pouring in in their dozens. Fortunately they were forming a kind of shield for the handful of heavily-armed and armoured ones.

He made his way down the hall at a full run. There was some emergency exit. There had to be. After all this place would've housed valuable robotics experts. The Empire certainly couldn't have afforded to lose them...or could they....

22/27

 

[Nicademus Blith]

Nicademus had been called up by [member="Bartic Myth'rand"] to assist in the setup of a mining colony in the asteroid belts around Pax Insul, it would be quite the complicated matter, but Nicademus' engineers and scientists were some of the best in the galaxy, he payed top dollar for this kind of talent. Engineers observed the area with fine sensor scans to find a good space in the asteroid belt to insert the stations, and also worked in order to set up shields around the construction site in order to block any asteroid damage to the mining and trade stations, this would hopefully prevent worker injury, and ensure the security of the station frame, over time the shields would be switched outfor stronger ones as more power became available, allowing for greater protection of the station from things such as pirates.

[member="Bartic Myth'rand"]

 

[Nicademus Blith]

Double Post