She Builds Ships To Sink

[Matsu Xiangu]

Ession was an ugly world.

And that was saying something when it was thought by a Sith Lord who found nothing more beautiful than a city dotted, if not completely covered, by the glowing lights of dense civilization.

Ession however, hid all of its people beneath sheets of metal, a world blanketed by factories and industrial machinery that made it all a disgustingly bland shade of brownish-grey cloaked in smog. Life bustled beneath its exterior but it was with the purpose of work, not culture. On a world that have serviced countless Empires during its time, there was little to think about but work. And Matsu was there to see if it could do so again. She was still unsure of whether she felt at home among the Sith’s ranks, as independent as she was. But a trip to the planet to see if it might be worth the Empire’s time would benefit her wanderlust either way.

However, upon landing, she knew it was a trip wasted at least in terms of procuring some slice of wonder. Drab. Lifeless. Boring. With a quiet, contracted sigh she walked off from her ship with the intent of meeting with one of the more prominent manufacturers planetside. The intent was to see what scale they were capable of producing on.

Beneath the metal platform she was walking on (metal...metal...on metal…) life buzzed in parallel directions, to destinations hidden beneath in the caves of brightly-lit tunnels and underground housing that made up the industrial planet’s residential hideousness...

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


"You both must be so proud," Laira had gushed.


"I am not." Siobhan had responded. Three simple words that cut Elpsis deeply.


"Not like anything I do will ever be good enough for you," She had muttered. A weak, impotent response. "Not my fault all your daughters left you, and I've done a lot more than any of them." Like saving Siobhan's life when she had her stroke, not that her adoptive mother seemed to care about that.


She did not want credit. Or to be showered in praise at every turn. It was true that she was no Siobhan or Coryth Elaris. Both were way out of her league. She just wanted...something. Tegaea had been sweet, kind and helpful, but Elpsis could not repress that nagging feeling of inadequacy.


So here she was - in a cheap bar on the industrial powerhouse, quite close to the spaceport. The planet was drab, boring and lifeless. Almost entirely stripped of nature, it was a temple to machinery. It felt hollow. Still, it was a nexus for radical rebels. Some a bit too militant for Elpsis' tastes, but then Siobhan had made it expressly clear that she considered her too...soft.


Furthermore, some rather prominent arms manufacturers located on this world were said to be developing weapons for the Sith. It was only appropriate to strike then and teach fascist enablers a lesson. So she sat there in a smoke-filled backroom inside a bar that looked like a mirror image of those she'd spent so much time during her smuggling days in. As she awaited her contact, she felt a disturbance in the Force. It was momentarily, but she felt a cold shiver run down her spine, accompanied by a sensation akin to spiders crawling over here, ere it passed.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Natalie, for all her time in smoked-filled backrooms, was starting to see the world in nothing but shades of muted grey. An outsider might snort and ask if that wasn’t just what Ession had to offer, but for someone born on this planet - a rare industrial Birther, as it were - she had learned to see the color. Ession had its own form of culture, of life, if you knew where to look for it. Her parents had come to Ession only a week before they’d learned they were pregnant and as such Natalie had never known anything but a planet that had financially trapped her parents.

Just enough money to get by.
Not enough money to leave.

And Ession manufacturing jealously guarded its secrets. Her parents had thought it was a promotion to be transferred to a facility that worked exclusively on designs for the then-thriving One Sith but really it had been a sentence - no one could ever speak even a word lest a competitor figure out their proprietary technology.

And when something had been leaked, her parents had been killed.

As it stood, Natalie was aware that galaxy was a machine. No one person was responsible for her parent’s death, or for the deaths of countless other men and women at the hands of relentlessly turning cogs looking to crush flotsam that couldn’t keep up.

But in her mind, that just meant there was more work to do.

That the endlessness of revenge had blinded her to the color she’d once seen so easily was lost on her.

She was the contact assigned to Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, and when she appeared in the smoke-filled room in front of the woman with fiery red hair, she looked as distracted as she’d felt. Natalie had climbed fairly high in the Ession Front Revival, and as such was fed hourly reports about the comings and goings of the various spaceports dotting her part of the world. And within the last she’d gotten whispers of an unmarked ship possibly representing the Sith Empire on-planet.

It was the most direct contact in months.

Sliding in to the seat opposite Kerrigan-Alcori, the diminutive but impossibly fit Natalie nodded shortly in professional greeting.

“I’m Agaricus,” she said, offering her callsign in the presence of a stranger. “You had questions. I don’t have much time, but I’ll do the best I can.”

Usually completely composed, it would be obvious even to the untrained eye that something big was distracting the Rebel agent.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


Elpsis could not escape a feeling of deja vu. Mind you, she had not been a freedom fighter - or rebel scum, depending on your ideological preconceptions - in the past. But she'd been a smuggler and itinerant mercenary. Admittedly not a good great one, but still.


Smoke-filled backroom in a shady bar, a contact - almost like old times. Strictly speaking little time had elapsed since those days. But in some ways they felt like another life time to her. Her dimunitive, but delightfully fit female contact sat down in front of her.


If Elpsis had been less on edge, she would have probably made a pass at the woman. Actually, she would have definitely done so. But the Rebel agent appeared...extremely distracted. Being blind, the young Kerrigan-Alcori could not discern facial expression. But what she could do was read others' emotions due to her empathy. It was practically screaming at her that something bothered this woman, and that she was normally not the type for such a reaction.


"Incendia," she said in response. She'd paid a bribe to make sure they'd be undisturbed, but it would nonetheless be unwise to offer your real name here. The walls could easily hide prying ears. Her vacant, milk coloured eyes focused on 'Agaricus'. Some found the emptiness of these white orbs unnerving, though others again seemed to regard them as attractive.


"I need info about shipments to the Sith. Stuff worth sabotaging to hurt the Empire." It would, of course, only have a minimal effect. The Sith controlled countless worlds and many factories on this planet did their bidding. Still, it would be something.


"And how much the Front can help. I'm tough, I've fought Sith, but I'm just one person," she added, continuing to follow the threads. "Is something wrong?" she enquired. Had the agent been followed? No, it seemed like more than that.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

She hadn’t noticed the eyes at first, perhaps so distracted that even something so striking might slip past her unusually anxious frame of mind. They were impossible to miss when the conversation began in earnest however. Pleasure wasn’t necessarily something that had crossed her mind in recent months, but if she too wasn’t wound so tight she might have admitted to herself the eerily blank cast of the gaze was more alluring than frightening.

But she was endlessly, relentlessly paranoid, and the Sith’s arrival only made her more suspicious. The woman sitting across from her was asking how to bring it to the Sith, and that was a surefire way to get on Natalie’s good side but still...how could she know for certain this Incendia was what she claimed to be? The Sith were powerful, capable of producing the false communications and paperwork that could fool the Front in to speaking with an agent from their Empire.

Yesterday, she might have told herself she was getting a little too much in to her own conspiracies. But with the arrival of what appeared to be a Sith Lord on an unmarked ship, wondering if the woman across from her was one of them or someone working for them didn’t seem so far-fetched.

She would have loved to start outlining specific facilities that might hurt the Empire and its allies the most, the maps of shipment routes the Front had managed to draw up to the best of their ability as their cell attracted people more proficient in espionage. But how could she be certain that she wasn’t digging herself a hole and showing a Sith just how much the Front knew, revealing them for the exact kind of threat they were instead of some small, overlooked group doomed to fail like the rest. She had to protect her people.

I’m tough. I’ve fought Sith.
Is something wrong?

She hesitated.
“Look, I don’t want to cause offense. But I can’t be sure you are who you say you are, not yet. And frankly I’ve got something big on my plate all of the sudden. It looks like a Sith may have just landed on Platform 18A, over in the North End. High clearance codes. She was seen heading towards Mukba Manufacturing, big-time production facility. I have to deal with that first, make sure all my people know and get themselves safe in case this is something big.”

The Front was prepared to die for their cause, but that didn’t mean they were free of fear. They could use all the allies they could get in this fight against creatures that cared nothing for order and peace, no matter how often they claimed it.

Hopefully, this woman who’d fought Sith would do the same today. If she did, Natalie would tell her everything the Front knew.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


It looks like a Sith may have just landed on Platform 18A.


These words gave Elpsis pause. One advantage of being empath was that she knew the woman was being truthful. Or at least believed she was. Of course, it could still be a trap...She decided to go with her gut, which said the apparent rebel was truly rattled and on edge. Time to act professional, Elpy. You went up against Sith before. That she had indeed, though she had little to brag about. Her achievements were minor and paled in comparison to those of her adoptive mother. Young Elpsis had not defeated the Dark Lord or pulled down an SD. She'd done her part and survived. That was it. Stop being a wet hen.


High clearance codes.


This implied that the Sith was important. One of the Masters who flocked to the so-called Dark Lord's court, whilst plotting their own ascension to gaining 'unlimited power'? "Tell me more about this Sith," there was a hint of command in her tone. It was not an order, but carried some empathic influence. Something along the lines of 'I can help. I can solve this problem for you. I know how to fight Sith.' "You got a name? Does she have an escort, and what's security like at Mukba?"

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

The change in posture of the woman across from Natalie gave her hope, but it was one she was careful to tamp down. She was already being transparent - there was no need to give away every single emotion.

“No name on her yet, and she was in an unmarked craft that had no resemblance to known TSE models. But she was unmistakably Sith from descriptions I got from my people close enough to see: strange Corruption that made her look like a doll, the discolored eyes. Short and slight, Atrisian from the looks of it.”

She answered the questions rapid-fire - this was territory she was comfortable with, an exchange of information and tactic that might have made someone mistake her for a woman of military background.

“Mukba, this time of day? On the more relaxed side since the workers and owners are there. Mostly the hard part seems to be getting in, from our people that work there - biological recognitions tech that’ll set off alarms if you don’t have guest or worker clearance, armed heavies passed off as front staff. But once you’re through that it seems it’s pretty easy to walk around save for the occasional patrol. At night when no one is working it’s a different story.”

“As far as I know, she’s already there.”

___________________________​

The facility would be more than adequate once combined with the compliance of several others on-planet. It was not the largest of those she intended to look at that day, but decades of purpose where their business was concerned had refined them to a quality missing even from many Core worlds.

She could be very pleased with this contribution.

“I think we’re almost done here,” she said, neutral tone void of the satisfaction she felt internally. No need to allow Mukba’s CEO to know he’d done well. “There’s just a few things I want you to sign. You know - standard non-disclosures, share these schematics with anyone and you waive the rights to the integrity of your physical form. Routine.”

He’d sign. She’d order a preliminary stack of 20 TIE’s to see what this place could really do.

And then she’d leave.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


"Ok. That's a start," Elpsis said thoughtfully, furrowing her brow. She would be lying if she claimed that she was not anxious. True, she had fought Sith, even Masters. On Atrisia, she'd faced a Sith Lord who'd turned into a volcanic cyclone and survived. But had she actually legitimately beaten one?


That was more dubious. Sure, she'd come out on top duelling a Ren on Mustafar. But her biggest duel had endeded with her getting her butt handed to her, though at least she'd managed to burn the Sith Knight from the inside out and melted his hand. She tried not to let any of these emotions show in her expression or stance. There were bigger things at stake than her angst. The information about Mukha was encouraging, but she could not be sure how long the Sith would be there and whether she intended to visit other factories or not.


A Kerrigan is a lioness. She does not flag or fail., she could hear Siobhan's words hammering inside her skull. She did not know how much time they had, so they'd have to act fast. "You want me to take care of her, cool. I can handle the fighting while you lie low. But it's better if I do it while I don't have to take on security as well. What I need you guys to do is perform some recon. Try to keep an eye on her movements, find a good spot for an ambush - away from civvies."


Unlike some 'Jedi', Elpsis cared about collateral damage and stuff. She recognised that all too often it was an unavoidable byproduct of warfare, but in her eyes there was a difference between acknowledging this unfortunate fact and actively causing it by being an idiot or a sociopath. Of course, there was this thing about good intentions. They tended to go astray... "I'll take it from there."

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

This was territory that made Natalie more comfortable. Action. There was of course, the slightest hesitation. In this, her ability to collect herself and wear a staunch poker face would be of no use. The woman across from her would feel the flicker of fear that dotted along the periphery of her thoughts - the knowledge that despite all their training, despite the fact that every man and woman in the Front was a volunteer with their own personal reasons to fight for freedom, she was undoubtedly sending some of them to their deaths today.

Nodding instinctively though it went unseen, she leaned forward on her elbows over the table.

“We can do that. Just a few things to take care of…”

_____________​

One, of course, was patching Incendia in to their comms systems - an unused channel, one that would contain no other chatter...just in case.

“Target exiting the building…”

This was the advantage of the Front. It could be everywhere. Perhaps not in control or in a position to immediately enact change, but it was the people. The ones who worked the factories, built the ships, could keep an eye where it mattered most.

The man working on a Mukba assembly line quickly looked back to his work after doing his part in the operation.

____________​

Natalie, of course, put herself in the thick of things. It was one of the reasons she’d risen in the ranks so quickly besides her own personal motivations. Her men liked her, respected a commander that fought beside them, and in turn they worked more effectively. So it was no surprise that she found herself on the most likely street for the Sith Lady to take in her rounds of prominent manufacturers.

She was turning an apple around in her palm as if carefully inspecting it for purchase when the Lady walked by. Unassuming, even smaller than Natalie and delicately built, it was only the way the other woman walked - without fear - that tipped off the Front commander that she had her target. That, and the eerie, unnatural perfection of corrupted features marred only by thick gnarls of scar tissue around the mouth.

She went back to her apple, speaking to comms as if communing with the seller. “Most likely trajectory is Tigress Industries. Closest, also one of the largest. Coordinates will be sent to you.”

Putting the apple down and nodding to the seller, she turned left to take a more discreet route towards Tigress. Incendia had said she could take care of the Sith if they needed her too, and while part of Natalie had been relieved, it didn’t sit right with her to do...nothing. They weren’t ready to take on a Sith Lord, but she’d be damned if they sat on the sidelines and let someone else take all the pressure.

“I’m going to have some of my men discreetly placed around the area. Tigress has experienced sabotage within the last year, and therefore their outer security is tighter. And more dangerous - turrets, that sort of thing. If you get in to trouble, they’ll be right there, and I’ll have some of my best attempting to power down the defenses before they become a problem.”

“And Incendia...good luck. You won’t be alone.”

She clipped out of the channel, still listening, but focused on reaching her gathering Front fighters in time.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

"Ruusan. What a massacre. And without result," Siobhan spoke.

"Hey, the Triumvirate did collapse a couple weeks later because all its leaders died or vanished. Not much of a win for 'em. So it kinda worked out?" Elpsis responded.

"Yes, and the Silvers exposed themselves to be an utter laughingstock. I felt like hanging a few after reading that three of them had drunk tea with a Sith Lord. Weaklings. Traitors," Siobhan's words dripped with disdain. She shrugged. "I did not handle things well at Olmondo."

Elpsis looked surprised. "Wait a moment...are you actually saying you made a mistake? For real? Can you repeat this please? I gotta record it!"

"Stop being childish and listen. You might learn something. In typical fashion, the Sith had arrayed human shields on the main street. They'd outfitted their captives with explosives and threatened to blow them up, unless the Coalition departed. At my command, our artillery fired ion shells. Contrary to Sith propaganda, the intent was to deactivate the detonators. The captives would have probably still died if they tried to escape, but it would have given them a fighting chance. Alas, our assumptions were erroneous. The attack triggered the charges and they died."

Elpsis looked sympathetic. She did not know how she would have acted if she'd been in the matriarch's place. It was the type of call she never wanted to make. "You can't blame yourself. You did all you could. The Sith are monsters. It's what they..."

"Spare me the pity party, girl," Siobhan cut her off coldly. "I don't blame myself. My mistake wasn't my failure to save them. My mistake lay in making the attempt in the first place. After that I was angry. I should have ignored them, focused on the bigger picture and shelled the damn city."

"There were...civilians living there. Many would have died." Elpsis knew how ruthless the older woman could be, but still looked shocked.

"Quite so. And you know what? They died anyway because once we'd advanced into the city to take it and an air strike destroyed the jamming device that had been mucking with our communications, the Sith bombed their own city. They killed plenty of us, and even more of their own. Including the civilians they spent so much time yammering about wanting to protect."

"Look, I get it. War's hell, innocent people die in it. You can't always save everyone. I'm not a naive Jedi hippie who thinks war's a leisurely stroll in the park. But there's gotta be a different way. We are supposed to be better, after all..."

"Better?" the laugh escaping Siobhan's throat was hollow. "Better doesn't win wars. In the long run, better doesn't save lives. It's easy to play the widely adored knight in shining armour who never gets her hands dirty. Who always saves the lives of the few, even it means letting a villain get away. Frankly, it's nothing short of narcissism because you're prioritising your own halo above everything else."

Elpsis took a moment to think on this. "How far is too far then? Where do we cross the line?"

"I've watched a lot of kids be put into body bags. They're covered with flags and there's an honour guard firing salutes at their funerals. You think I'm unfeeling? Sometimes terrible things have to be done. Inevitably, each and every one of us will have to face a moment where we have to commit that horrible sin. And if we flinch in that moment, if we hesitate for one second, if we let our conscience get in the way, you know what happens? There are more kids in those body bags. More coffins being lowered into the ground. When that moment comes, do not flinch."

"There's no line you wouldn't cross, is there?"

"For my family? Dear, I'd do things you could not possibly imagine. I'm in this world a little while longer to defend House Kerrigan-Alcori. To defend my family. Including you."

"It's not my path. If I run into Sith, I'll fight. I won't waste time with platitudes and chatter. But I can't look at things like a Dejarik game and think it's ok to sacrifice people like pieces on a board because some calculus says it's necessary. I feel it when people die around. Maybe that makes me weak."

"You're not weak, girl. But painfully naive. It's easy for you because you're young and without a care in the world. Some day, you will have to assume responsibility for others and make calls like this. And then you will have no good choices, just bad ones and you must pick the least odious."


The conversation, which had occured a long time ago, played out in Elpsis' mind as she made her way towards the ambush location. It did not sit well with her that the rebels were being pulled in this deeply, even though she had not turned down their help. It was naive to think that they'd all make it out alive. She'd be responsible if things went wrong.


"Roger. On my way. Take care of yourself. If...things don't go well, get your lot to safety, kay?" She wished that she'd brought her armour. Without it, she felt naked. But it would have been impossible to get it past security at the spaceport. She would have also been unable to sneak around in it. Or avoid some very awkward questions about why she was strutting around in medieval armour made of phrik.


Hence she'd stuck with a light combat suit she could wear beneath street clothes. It was far from ideal, but it would have to do. Outwardly she looked like a common spacer. Her lightsabre was carefully concealed. Tigress Industries was getting closer and closer. She followed the coordinates the rebels had provided her.


Above all, she followed her instinct - and the sensation of malevolence that seemed to grow more powerful by the moment. The presence of the Sith Master beckoned to her through the Force. The best visualisation Elpsis could think of was that of a spider crawling across and biting her skin, while parasites burrowed into it. She dared not flinch.


But who was the one being led into the web? She quickened her pace. Guards who wanted to check her ID were quickly persuaded that this was not the ID they were looking for and that she could pass without further inspection. Indeed, they were also persuaded to forget her face.


[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Tigress, of those most powerful manufacturers on Ession, was perhaps the one to fall deepest in to the military might of their calling. While others prided themselves on sleekness of design, the efficiency and speed of their fighters, eking out slighter higher maneuverability ratings for every large ship they created...Tigress was always thinking about how to pack more armaments on to their creations.

A bit uninspired if you asked Matsu, but no one was.

The connected swath of buildings loomed over the street that crossed in front of it, sitting comfortably behind inflexible iron-linked fencing with the occasional opening at three points along its protective face for visitors and deliveries. Each was guarded by men and women alternately bored and vigilant. They stood at attention however, when the tiny Sith Lord arrived.

“Welcome, Lady Xiangu. Tigress has been expecting your arrival. We don't want to keep you waiting here so the specifics of your visit can be discussed inside if it pleases you. Just walk through the scanner.”

Drudgery, niceties, formality.
The guard seemed aware she could twist his head off his shoulders with a thought but everyone had a job to do.
She was missing Maena fiercely.

The scanner screeched loudly, the metal of her arms lighting up like Life Day. She shrugged in a noncommittal fashion at the guard.

______​

Speaking of jobs to do, the mole within Tigress had a rather important one. She didn't work within their defense division but she had a friend who did. Unfortunately, said friend wasn't part of the Front and therefore the mole had a much harder time getting the turret systems offline just long enough for...

______​

​

...a Front slicer, furiously and remotely attempting to plant a virus that would disable the weapons that would give Elpsis no chance at Matsu. Things were going well until…

______​

​

A quiet but constant alarm tone came from the console in the guard booth. Matsu felt a thin line of irritation, prepared to just keep walking, when the guard said through tight-lips: “Something's wrong.”

Tinny, thin, a voice came up to the guards comms. “Col, possible Code Black. Just had to neutralize Li - she brought systems down and we can't get any of the turrets back online except the one in the Northwest corner. Lock everything down out there.”

Matsu had listened with only one ear once she realized what was happening. Hand on the hilt of her saber, she kept cover behind part of the guard’s booth as she looked out to the street.

Come out…

________​

“I have to go out there… I have to…”

“No - NO Simpson, you don’t. Resist it!” whispered Natalie in a barely contained hiss, grabbing at Simpson’s arm and finding him freakishly strong. She’d heard of this, of some Sith’s ability to compel. It was nauseating and she could barely stop herself from walking out the doorway. Another minute or two and it would most likely get her too but for the moment her fear for her people kept her on task.

“Yes I DO!” he roared, shoving her off and taking one fatal step out in to the street.

Natalie poked her head up and out from her position to peer through a window, and saw the Sith beckoning Simpson closer.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


It was on.


Elpsis felt the baleful, terrible presence of the Witch-Necromancer before she laid her ethereal eyes upon her. There was a spark of recognition inside her. She knew this woman. In fact, she'd seen her before. In a vision of blood and terror, and as a broken body inside a ruined city. Just a few metres away from the equally broken body of Siobhan Kerrigan.


It had been Elpsis who received the vision that sent her adoptive mother on her quest to slay the Zombie Queen. What had been result? Death for all that lay around them. Oh, feth, anxiety and, it could not be denied, fear swelled up inside the empath.


You made a promise, girl. You said you could take her, she told herself harshly.


Her focus was steadied by the distress she felt her allies were in, as the Sith Mentalist sunk her vile tendrils into them, seeking to twist their minds and make it like puttee inside her grasp. They were being tormented while she angsted. In this instant, she stretched out with her mind as well, seeking to reach the rebels. She could see some already falling under the Sith's spell, drawn to her like puppets on strings.


She was the ethereal flame that turned the tendrils to ash and brought light to the fog that engulfed their minds. Calming, empathic energies flowed from her towards them as the Light surrounded them. I am here. Don't listen to her. Get out of here, her tone was gentle, but there was firmness behind it. Hopefully this would work.


Of course, this might leave Elpsis open to whatever attack the Sith Lady had in mind. If Siobhan were here in her stead, she could have considered the plight of the rebels to be an acceptable loss. Let's dance, queen, that was directed towards the Sith. She gathered the Force inside her, drawing upon her kindred element, fire and heat. Sio says hi.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

By then, Simpson was in the middle of the road that ran across the front of the gates blocking Tigress, hunched over on his knees with his hands clutching either side of his skull.

“Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!” The pressure was in his skull, scratching at the inside and begging to get out. His forehead pressed against the duracrete and he knew what he had to do.

The bloom was red and violent, a crack and then nothing.
Finally. Some color in this lifeless world.

Let’s dance queen...

Her head snapped around, looking for whomever had spoken in to her mind. No one was immediately visible, putting Matsu on guard. The street was lined with speeders and slightly larger transport vehicles parked on either side and as the Sith Lord scanned the street she stayed behind one at all times, shielding the majority of her body as best she could.

For the moment, the men and women whose minds she’d manipulated were forgotten, suddenly free of her influence.

“Sio?” The vocalization between minds was like the snap of something in the wind - short, sharp, demanding attention. Matsu was frozen, demented excitement paralyzing her. It had been so long, so long, and she missed her Siobhan. Oh, life got in the way didn’t it? But when it was meant to be you only needed tiiiime. There was a laugh that echoed between her head and the woman somewhere close but hidden, manic and frantic and disturbing in its incongruity. Obsession. That in itself was the assault, clutching and shredding, pressing thumbs to brain tissue and searching for a glimpse.

"Let me in, let me see her… LET ME IN, let me in…"

There was no intention here beyond either disorienting the unseen opponent enough for her to show herself, or - even better - driving her to the point of madness and ending their confrontation right then and there. But not of course...before Matsu understood where Sio was.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


There was pain.

So much pain.


The empathic backlash flooded Elpsis' mind when Simpson blew his brains out. She had opened her mind by reaching out to the resistance fighters in an attempt to free them from the Necromancer's toxic influence. Needless to say, this left her open to his suffering.


Feeling a man die was a bit like drowning. She was no longer the inexperienced novice who had no control over her empathy. So she managed to reach the surface ere she could drown. But it left a mental scar on her. Her breathing intensified. At least it seemed the remaining rebels were free. Go, she repeated. Focusing on her Force Sight, she tried to track the Sith. She had been canny, using the various vehicles as shields. But the Force allowed Elpsis to see past such obstructions. She need only follow the threads of power and she would find the nexus of darkness. As it turned out, the Sith struck first.

"Let me in, let me see her… LET ME IN, let me in…"

The onslaught was manic, frantic, and vicious. As if claws were trying to rip into her mind and tear any knowledge she might have of Siobhan out of her mind. Elpsis dropped down to one knee as she struggled. It felt like small pieces were being torn out of her mind. Among them was a glimpse of Siobhan Kerrigan. Stern, statuesque, wearing a severe black dress.


"You're part of the family now, dear. But don't think is a privilege. Or a license to spend your time partying and living off our largesse. I expect you to contribute. To make something out of yourself, and carry on the family legacy." The glimpse was fleeting, but enough. Blood seeped out of Elpsis' ears. The pain was agonising.


She struggled, pushing back against the vile power infesting her mind as she raised her walls. In doing so, she could shield herself to a degree, but she could not force Matsu out. I'm not weak, she repeated these words inside her mind like a mantra. I am not weak. She followed the threads of power, back to where the Sith hid. To try and shoot her with a gun was futile. There were too many obstructions and she could not aim precisely while the mentalist was in her mind. A fireball could be avoided to easily.


But there was something else she could. Great White Wolf, give me strength. And lead these brave souls out of danger. Blazing heat surged through Elpsis' body. Indeed, her titian hair seemed to glow, becoming a true firemane. She focused her power on the speeder the Sith seemed to be using on an improvised shield. To be precise, she unleashed her fury upon the vehicle's fuel tank, filling it with such heat that it would explode. She wanted to make the witch burn.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

The nature of obsession, perhaps, led one to extrapolation. The last time she and Siobhan had been in one another’s presence, Matsu had gleaned from that guarded mind the knowledge that there was family. If not blood, then chosen kin. It had been a shock. Looking back, perhaps such a notion was foolish. But she’d imagined the Siobhan she’d first met as a completely solitary figure, domesticity in any form anathema to her very existence. What she’d seen that day had still indicated that the woman was hard, headstrong, remote in so many ways. But dedicated to an ideal and protection of those she considered her people.

What flashed across her mind as she dug in fervid frenzy at the stranger’s knowledge was more beautiful proof.

“Oh,” she breathed.

“I crave to understand her. She is of little faith. Does she always think of you in such low terms?” the Spider asked of the stranger, tugging at strings.

But the balancing of concentration and distraction, every mentalist’s greatest challenge, reared its ugly head in that moment. Before she realized what was happening, the gas tank in the speeder in front of her exploded, vomiting fuel all over her front and legs. In a split-second decision, Matsu pushed against the speeder with the Force, sending it flying away from her and in to the streets, but the damage was already done. Fire rippled up her legs and front, nestling in to the acrid stink of those fuel stains. The fabric was thin and in moments it had reached her pale flesh. More and more of her ceased to be human every day, but there was no escaping the unbearable agony of burning.

She dropped to the ground, shrieking in pain, attempting to curl in to the pavement and starve the fire of oxygen.

Agony however, was potent as a focus, and she needled back at the stranger, desperately clinging to that forged mental connection and pouring every ounce of sensation at her. Everyone should get a taste of their own medicine after all. Having her own mind assaulted and invaded had been the catalyst for Matsu’s own obsession with mentalism. Experiencing your own perversion made one appreciate it.

By the time Matsu managed to smother the fire, her wounds were hideous. Giant, red, weeping sores covered her abdomen and the front of her thighs. Stumbling to her feet, she started TUGGING, urging the girl to come out.

_______​

Natalie had done as Incendia had commanded, sending away almost all her people save for those who had managed to resist the Haruspex when she’d first descended on them. There was no part of her that would allow the agent out in the field - now fully believed as a fellow enemy of the Sith - to do this alone.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


“I crave to understand her. She is of little faith. Does she always think of you in such low terms?”


Those words hurt. It was words...but they hurt. Like a sharp knife. Siobhan did think of her in low terms. No matter how much Elpsis tried to gain her approval. Matsu might pick up on these feelings of hurt, as they flared inside Elpsis' aura. The mental contact was cut off briefly by the explosion.


Boom. The speeder's fuel tank exploded. The speeder suffered the same fate, being ripped apart as it crashed upon the ground. The blast wave caused by the explosion knocked Elpsis off her feet. Ouch. There would be nasty, purple bruises. Blood dripped down her chin. A rib was not feeling happy with her. The noise was almost deafening and hurt her unprotected ears.


She hissed in pain as shards of debris, akin to shrapnel, cut through her light combat suit across her chest and left forearm. Gritting her teeth, she got up. A bit dazed and unsteady. Then the actual Titan - actual, as opposed to self-proclaimed titans who got their jollies from beating on those weaker themselves and calling themselves 'god-kings' - slammed her mental power into her mind.


It was like a storm. A storm of pain and malice. In her mind, Elpsis burnt, as fire seemed to rush up her body. Burning her skin, choking her and threatening her ability to breathe as acrid smoke enveloped her. She bit down on her tongue to keep herself from screaming, as Matsu threw her own pain back at her. The empath staggered. It was not real, it was not real...It felt real. Then came the mental tug as the Witch-Necromancer pressed her will upon her, pulling. Something had to give. I am fire.


She did not try to push the Mentalist out or put out the flames that raged inside her mind. She was passion, fury and intensity. So Elpsis, the Baleful Flame, let herself be pulled. The weight bearing down upon her mind grew too strong and she emerged from cover, exposing herself to line of sight. All around her was pain and anguish as pedestrians and civilian employees of the factory fled the confrontation between the two Force Masters. Each sensation cut her like a hot knife. She let it fuel her. It was drive to be better.


Her bruised hand found purchase on her sidearm - one of two. The revolver sprayed a burst of hypervelocity pellets towards the Mentalist Titan. Precision was not within Elpsis' ability at the moment, though the projectiles were difficult to dodge and hit hard. They were, in any case, not the main game.


That came afterwards, for she drew power from the heat that permeated the air. Fire and blazing heat sprang from her free hand. She was incandescent, glowing with a fierce light, and she projected a wall of flame towards Matsu, aiming to surround and roast her with it. Eat this, monster. Name's Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, she snarled in her mind. She knew what she stood for and who she was.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Hypervelocity bullets. Even if she’d been in any sort of physical condition to move in a way that might evade the majority of the spread, such ammo was aptly named - it had been fired long before its own sound caught up to it. By the time Matsu attempted to evade, two of the slugs had already burrowed in to her burned flesh. Despite being shot enough times that the sensation wasn’t even shocking anymore, this managed to be something new - like something punching through too-tight plastic wrap, creating strange bands of pressure and pain as her right thigh became a cluster of agony.

An impressive string of expletives courtesy of all her time in the New City coursed across her mind as the wall of fire erupted towards her. All the sudden she understood what it must be like to be an enemy of the Heralds of Xoth-Za on Maena, plagued by the unstoppable righteousness of a bunch of fire-wielding maniac zealots. Diving for the cover of a nearby Talon Cutter parked on the side of the street, the pavement once again tearing up raw burns on her legs and stomach, she barely made it in time before she was engulfed. A massive orange-red bloom cascaded around all sides of the landspeeder, threatening to reach Matsu as it curled downwards over the top. The popping of smaller metal components melting snapped in her ears and before she knew it, a lip of fire was reaching under the speeder as well to lick at the backs of her calves.

Unsure how long the other woman could keep it up and feeling an animal pressure climbing up her throat, Matsu stood up as far as she dared and called on her sorcery. Inky black tendrils of energy slithered from her hands, crawling through open spots in the landspeeder. Matsu had never tested them against fire but it was her best chance at the moment to inflict major damage and make it a more even battleground. Throwing more power in to them, she sent them reaching for her opponent. She could not of course, see Elpsis through the wall of fire, but the tendrils had something of a mind of their own and would grab for the fire-wielder’s limbs hungrily. If Matsu was able to get purchase, her goal was to yank her opponent towards the now super-heated side of the landspeeder and hold her there. Gruesome, and gruesomely effective.

Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori? Come closer, let me see you.

_________​

The Front fighters that had stayed behind remained within unoccupied buildings - and there were many around Tigress. The manufacturing titan had brought up property around itself just in case it wanted to expand. And in the meantime it posted snipers and guards of other sorts within their walls. Some called it paranoid but as the fiery conflagration played out in the streets anyone who’d suggested it would feel vindicated.

At the moment, the Front members were spreading out to find and eliminate snipers in the building. They couldn’t be allowed to shoot Incendia.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


Inky black tendrils of pure malevolence crossed the distance. Elpsis' aura flared up and she poured power into an attempt to dissipate them, but to no avail. Though some were banished, the tendrils wrapped themselves around her limbs with ravenous hunger. This produced very nasty bruises.


Pain surged through her body, for their grip grew tighter as she struggled. Some surged up, wrapping themselves around her waist. It became more and more difficult to breathe. Force aura kept her innards from being squished. Then she pulled with ruthless speed and strength, being yanked right towards the speeder Matsu had sought cover behind. Ouch. Now at last Matsu would be able to look upon her, see her pale face, white eyes and flaming red mane.


She impacted upon the super-heated side of the burning vehicle. The impact dazed her. Blood seeped out from a wound in her forehead. The flames sought purchase upon her body, burning through her clothes. Her light combat suit offered no real protection. Being a pyromancer, Elpsis was very gifted when it came to absorbing fire and heat. However, this required some focus. Moreover, the acrid smoke invading her nostrils made it very difficult to breathe. She coughed violently, struggling to breathe. It felt like she was drowning. Breath control and Force shield helped, but that could only be maintained for a short while.


She'd managed to hold on to her revolver, but the surge of heat proved too much and its power cells exploded. What was left of the gun fell to the ground. It was accompanied by two fingers from the hand that had been holding it. Blood dripped down from her maimed hand. A realisation blossomed in her mind: She might actually die here.


No, she would not die here. She was not the helpless victim she used to be. She was a seer of the Great White Wolf, a trueborn daughter of Coryth Elaris, a daughter of Tegaea Alcori and Siobhan Kerrigan. She was a lioness. The Sith would. Hear. Her. Roar.


She howled in pain and righteous fury. Here I am. Energy surged through her abused, scorched, burn-mark covered body. She drew strength from the heat surrounding her. Enough strength to break the hold of the black tendrils. Indeed, some of the dark energies were absorbed by her. This might turn out to be a very bad idea, but at this stage Elpis was acting on instinct. Then she pushed the flames towards Matsu. The orange-red bloom that had been cascading around the sides of the speeder was now swept towards her from all sides.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Matsu had long let go of the notion of pleasure when hearing an opponent suffering. Of course, one could use such pain as fuel for themselves - that was a basic tenet of the Sith, though she wasn’t so sure that’s how she’d introduce herself. Regardless, reveling in someone else’s misfortune only led to arrogance and distraction. She could afford neither. Certainly not in the face of the walls of fire that crept closer to her on all sides.

She’d seen its effects herself, what it left behind when completely unhindered on the levels of the New City. It consumed everything including itself, producing smoke that itself caught fire even hotter than its source, destroying every object it touched until there was simply nothing left. And it was fast - unbelievably fast, once it had picked up enough fuel to become unstoppable. By the time Elpsis gave her will to her flames, the Sith Lord she fought against barely had time to react.

The agony was everywhere, instantaneous - indescribable, as the sheer intensity confused her nerve endings in to interpreting a thousand adjectives, none of which were any use because there was no way to escape. Heat gave way to cold gave way to stabbing gave way to some sort of cracking that she would never be able to relate unless forcing the exact memory on someone else. The sides of her legs and torso threatened to melt off in sheets if she didn’t do something, the phrik in her arms seizing up in the extreme temperature. They threatened to cease working entirely.

Make it stop! Stop!

The shove that roared out of her might have made Siobhan Kerrigan raise an eyebrow (though nothing more) as Matsu pushed the speeder away from herself. It flew to the other side of the street, and it might have gone farther. If it did, Matsu wouldn’t see - the moment she flung the burning speeder and its red-headed bumper sticker away from herself, a landspeeder hit her head-long.

_______​

​

Natalie’s troops were moving through adjacent buildings, but she’d had a more direct mission. Quietly, she’d found a speeder. Quietly, she’d hotwired it. And quietly, she’d sped as fast as she could towards the Sith Lord doing battle with Incendia. She had no ability to wield the Force, but she wouldn’t let the woman fight alone.

The Lady was struck by her speeder and Natalie kept driving and then…

I should crash in to that building.
NO!
I can’t feel my arms.
TURN RIGHT!
Hit the gas.

_______​

Matsu rose from the pavement, one phrik arm bent at an impossible angle, her right leg so mangled that she couldn’t stand straight up, and tracked the speeder until the full brunt of her mental control had its desired effect.

Security forces from Tigress poured out in to the street, and almost in kind the Freedom Front’s fighters appeared to combat them. Ession had always been a world that bowed to the power of various Empires, and though Matsu wasn’t aligned with the current one, she represented a potential business deal. Tigress Security fell in around her as the battlefield suddenly became far more congested. The Front, for their part, were working at extricating the fire-adept and fending off the security forces that were coming to take Incendia out.

“Ma’am, we’ll have an airlift for you within a few minutes.”

Ignoring this news, Matsu pointed with her good arm towards the crashed speeder. “I want that woman. Alive. I’m taking her back to Maena with me.”

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


It was said that death by fire was the purest death. Elpsis did not agree with that notion. To her, it seemed terribly messy. But the flames held truth that was revealed to her in all its crackling intensity. She was in deep, agonising pain, pushing herself to the point of exhaustion and possible self-immolation. But she was holding on her own.


She was standing up to one of the most feared Sith Lords in the Galaxy. She was not weak. Siobhan, the woman she had looked up to, but who treated her with icy contempt and disdain, was wrong. There was no time for Elpsis to process this mid-battle, for she had other problems to deal with. Such as the fact that a powerful storm of telekinetic energy rippled from the Witch-Necromancer.


Gathering momentum, the telekinetic wave sent both her and the speeder flying. Indeed, the speeder rammed her. A cocoon of the Force blunted the impact, but did not eliminate it. Some Force-users, simple Padawans among them, had discovered the secret of manifesting a Force shield so powerful that it could nullify kinetic impact. In this moment, Elpsis really wished she'd learned how to do that. Ouch.


She flew through the air with all the momentum of a speeding bullet. The wind had been knocked out of her, her right arm was twisted at a frighteningly odd angle and everything hurt. Eventually, she hit the ground. The burning speeder landed a bit away, being ripped apart in a magnificient explosion. Shrapnel careened through the air, stabbing into concrete walls.


All she could do was cover herself and shield herself from the shower to the best of her ability. A pillar of smoke and dust rose up into the air, and she struggled to breathe, feeling like she was suffocating. Each intake of breath caused a sharp pain to shoot through her chest, courtesy of broken ribs. Indeed, she coughed up blood. A big, painful burning wound had spread across her stomach. If she were able to look at herself in a mirror, she would have seen that there were dark marks on her face. Markings pregnant with the dark side.


Shouts, the roar of engines and the whine of blasters filled the air. Security guards rushed towards her and she tried to raise her right arm, but it refused to move. Indeed, the mere attempt caused horrible agony to shoot through her now very broken arm. Then suddenly a volley of blaster bolts cut through the air, taking down charging guards. A burly, tall Devaronian rebel wielding a repeating blaster crossed the distance towards her, while his comrades covered him.


"I've got her. Jan, Sean, covering fire," he yelled to make himself heard over the cacophony of sound. Further fire support came from hidden snipers, letting loose precise shots with their rifles. "Koyi, give me a hand," he ordered a Twi'lek comrade of his. Bending down, he took ahold of Elpsis and attached a rebreather to her mouth. "Come on, girl. Don't die on me."

By now Elpsis had been pulled out of her daze. She saw the chaos unfold on the now suddenly very crowded battlefield. She perceived Matsu's dark, baleful presence with her Force Sight. And she saw the crashed speeder, and the fading embers of life inside it. "Agaricus is in that speeder. We must rescue her."

"No time. Place is crawling with jackboots. She knew the risks, we all did. Now..."

"No," suddenly her voice was not weak and tired, but strong. Commanding. Angry. On instinct, she pressed her will upon him. "We're not leaving her behind. Get her out of there."

"We will...get her out of there."


She got to her feet. The empath was almost spent. Her body was a mass of pain. Her sword arm was useless. She was close to collapse. But she had the strength of her fury. While the freedom fighters tried to reach Natalie in order to remove her from the wreckage, she drew upon what energies she had left. Such was her exertion that it caused her pain, but she persevered. Furiously, she threw the force of her mind at the security guards that were being drawn towards the crashed speeder like a moth to a flame. In their minds - or at least that of several of them - the flames coalesced, giving shape to nightmarish demons of fire and wroth. Beautiful and terrible to behold. Coming to devour them and melt their flesh until naught but bone was left.