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Objective: Dig Out Allies: Galactic Alliance, [member="Bryce Bantam"], [member="Leo Vandermolen"], [member="John Shepherd"], [member=Nawago], [member="Sanya Val Swift"] Enemies: Thanks for the avalanche
“Everybody gather in!” Joza called, voice carrying clear through the cold air. The frigid temperature hurt her throat a bit, but there was little to be done about that now as the avalanche descended upon them. The closer they all were, the less she’d have to extend the protective barrier and the more she could concentrate on strengthening it. They’d get buried for sure, but at least they’d have a chance to dig themselves out after it was over.
She gave Leo a meaningful nod as he joined her, arms extended with palms out to produce a Protection Bubble around those who’d gathered at the wreckage. “Nowhere for us to take shelter, so we’re gonna have to ride this thing out.” She paused, giving Leo a side glance noting his injuries. Nothing too serious, head wounds tended to bleed a lot even if they weren’t that bad. Still, he’d need medical attention once they could afford to slow down…which probably wouldn’t be a luxury they could afford just yet, so Joza went with the next best thing. Fiddling through her pocket with one hand, she retrieved a stim and tossed it to the other Rouge. “It doesn’t heal that well, but it helps a lot with pain and give you a burst of adrenaline. Gotta help me with this barrier, though.”
“All good except for the pilot, S.” Joza grunted into the com linked up with Sanya. She sounded distracted, concentrating on reinforcing their barrier against the incoming avalanche. “I think we might be somewhere behind the Fir—“ The wave of snow hit like a thousand ton speeder truck, effectively cutting off her words. A strained groan was all that would be heard before the line went dead.
Barriers and protective bubbles were a specialty of hers, one of the few things she’d actually taught at the Silver Jedi temple as a Master. How far away that seemed, but she enjoyed teaching when she could. Levels of concentration varied depending on what you were trying to deflect, and a massive wall of mobile snow was somewhere at the top. The world turned black as the little group became completely engulfed by the avalanche, the sound of snow rushing against the barrier. Joza had shifted into something completely silent, almost serene as the signs of heavy concentration disappeared from her face and her form. But she was still focusing—deeper rather than aggressive. She’d been taught to use the Force effectively as a Jedi, and though she’d slowly shed that life, old habits die hard.
The barrier held thought the worst of it, Joza’s arms finally giving out as the roar of snow and ice above them began to die down. The group was swept up a bit as the barrier dropped, tumbling rather gently until everything stilled to a stop. The world was quiet again…save for the din of battle that was not so far away.
Taking a few moments to breathe in the chilly air, the Zeltron figured that it would be better to get out as soon as they could rather than chill here to regain energy and maybe suffocate. Pressing a hand to the snow infront of her, she synthesized what heat she could and slowly began to melt her way out.
The two techs that had stuck around due to obvious reasons of control and maintenance were… easily persuaded at gunpoint. Not that Adder would actually ever shoot them – but they didn’t know that.
Presently they lay knocked out and tied up well within her line of sight. The redhead herself was assessing the mainframe of the massive computer system connected to the generator control. Given its function and importance, high security was expected. So far she’d only gotten past the authentication thanks to the index finger of tech Fred, while tech Bob had confided with a shaky chin which security measures he knew about.
Instead of trying to slice into the bastard all on her own and turn into bones and dust in that (admittedly very comfortable) chair, Adder enlisted some overspace help. More precisely, she plugged in another interfacer, hogged all of the facility’s considerable reserved holonet bandwidth and… hello, encryption.
She worked with SIS on occasion. Undercover stuff, mostly – she was good at that. Even did a job with two former Marshalls once. The relevance of this moonlighting was, however, in the fact that SIS did a lot of codebreaking. It was kinda in their job description.
To that purpose, they had built and designed whole farms dedicated to breaking code – brute force, it was called. Adder herself wasn’t much of a slicer, but plenty of guys and gals she knew back home were wizards with tech.
Her job momentarily done until SIS got through, the redhead leaned back in the chair and tuned up the radio. Bob and Fred had been leaning over the portable station when she’d come in, enthralled by the reporter on air.
It was still going on, five minutes later, and Adder was beginning to get the gist of it. A grin.
StrtCrypt; StrtTrans; RecTrans = Gabriel Sionoma; ContTrans: { “Connected to SIS Slicefarm. ETA approx. 5.”; “And… nice job with the broadcast, Sheriff.”; } EndTrans; EndCrypt;
Apparently Omai Rhen’s speech had stirred the lower levels quite a bit. The reporter, an ugnaught named Kiha, was now receiving frantic calls from all over. Concerned citizens mostly, with some naysayers and a couple rebel hearts interspersed between.
Start slow. Work your way up.
With that in mind, the redhead brought up her datalogger and began a search on this Amadalia Vyrn. There was potential there, but she had to tread carefully.
The outburst of power from [member="Cameron Centurion"]'s arrival was earpopping; literally. Behind his Helm, Micah felt the sudden pop of pressure as the former false God ripped the fabric of reality and appeared before them, sending a concussion wave that went blasting outward in his wake. A few personal shields were able to block the bulk of the blast, and even Micah had to grunt and brace his legs as his own deployment. It still managed to get him to slid back, swearing under his breath.
At the end of the chaos, there his uncle stood. Seeing him there honestly, well, wasn't as much of a surprise as a punch in the stomach. The entire Talith and Shamalain family had been weighted by their recent tragedy; the grief and loss of Amorella, their beloved aunt -- Cameron's wife. It had been at their uncle's Disero's wedding, and the chaos of events that resulted in there very much beloved loved one seemingly lost to the Force.
Slowly, Micah rose, body flexing and adjusting from the lingering vestiges of Cameron's recent use of power. Looking at him now, there was no denying that his uncle carried a presence with him. He always had. Micah could still vividly recall it back when he was four years old, the tall, broad shouldered dark man that his aunt had brought with her in the middle of the night. The man that had been a part of forging him who he was now. A man that was every much as unrelenting and focused in his training, who held no apology for what he considered to be vital for the Talith sibling's training. Weakness was not to be coddled. Instead, strength and ambition tempered under the forge of that viridian gaze. Countless of bruises Micah may have sported, but they made him who he was today along with the training of his father.
There was love in that.
"Uncle." Micah's voice might be tinged with the metallic reverberation of the voice modernizer of his helm, but it was Micah's none the less. Drawing up to his full height, the Talith took a deep breath.
"I didn't expect to see you here."
As casual of a conversation and observer might say, but just the start. Within his mind, Micah encouraged [member="Vexen"], [member="Ipsy"], and [member="Spark Finn"] to leave as soon as possible. It could go any way with his uncle, and Micah was prepared for that.
Family, after all, had a way of doing that.
Behind him, those Alliance soldiers and SIS agents were steadily pressing sticky small modules of the Browncoat portable shield generators. Considering how things were looking with the recent explosion and the rush of information coming in on just what was happening, precautions had to be made. They had planned Plan A, Plan B, and then Plan make it the kark up as we go.
The end result of the mission, by Inari's blessing, would make it come together.
Smoke poured from ruined cloth, her left arm and hand an angry mass of red skin with the bright sheen of new burns stretching from fingers up towards the elbow. Blood dripped from one corner of her mouth, welling from the torn skin of her lower lip, her tongue flicking out to catch the rivulet and wipe it away. Letting her injured arm fall to her side, she adjusted her grip on her own borrowed blade and let one corner of her mouth curl into a smirk as Brennan engaged the woman in another round of attacks, the Jedi Master playing coy.
”Of course you don’t. But come now…”
The rest of her words broke off as the recording began playing on all communication circuits within the plant. The voice was foreign to the Ren, but the message was unsurprising. Even without a line of sight to the footage that followed his message, the girl knew what scene would be unfolding on any screen connected to the plant. After all, she had been there. Grin widening as she spun her blade in a circle, watching the intricate patterns the violet blades weaved in the air in front of Master Raaf, her skin broke more, a second small drop of crimson welling on the edge of her lip.
A sigh, almost disappointed in nature, escaped the girl, head shaking in amusement at their feeble attempt to undermine the First Order by broadcasting images that had already been spread across the entirety of First Order space. It was truly disappointing that the Galactic Alliance believed the citizens of the Order to be kept in the dark of the punishments and fate that befell those who disobeyed or failed to uphold the ideals of the Supreme Leader. Order would be kept at all costs, in the case of the Orbital Bombardment ordered at Skor II, that cost was high.
Returning to their previous conversation as if the echoing voice was nothing but a commonplace announcement, the knight tilted her head.
”We are both intelligent enough to know what I speak of.” She narrowed her eyes, saber coming to rest in a horizontal position, arm extended, blade pointed at their opponent. ”As well as to acknowledge that I am right in my assumptions, Master Jedi.”
Emphasis placed on the last word, she allowed her eyes and tone to reveal her true feelings on the title, and the woman in front of her who might hide behind such a façade. The knight flashed forward, natural ability, not power, behind the speed of her movements, eyes locked onto the motion of her opponent’s blades. As the opportune moment appeared, blades parallel to the Master’s body, she struck, blade flashing towards her knees, easily blocked by the spinning blades, but waiting for the counter attack.
The clash of blades sent sparks into the air, as she met the second with an easy parry. Each move was meant to do nothing more than reverse the rotation of the blades, the knight aiming to give her partner an opening in the few moments it took for the violet plasma to crash against crimson.
Eyes flashed to the curved ring and the hand wrapped around the hilt within, an idea forming. Crimson blade flashing up to meet the first of the two sabers again. She didn’t parry, instead allowing her blade to slide down the length of the violet plasma, hilt flipping to angle inward. The knight stepped in, giving her better leverage as she moved to lock the woman’s wrist within the trap of the disc and the hilt of Cruentis Cor.
Kira didn't belong here. Someday, yes. Eventually. She was being trained by the Ren, had been raised by them her entire life- so when she had been ordered to Hoth she had, without question or hesitation, gone where she was bid. This wasn't simply an order, this was family. And when her 'father' asked something of her?
She tried her best.
But the S'kytri wasn't ready for this. She knew it. They knew it. But the realities and the necessities of war meant that it didn't really matter. Enough of her brothers and sisters were unable to fight, and the impending engagements on Hoth and Bespin were critical to the First Order. To Seiger Ren.
Only her friend, Arcana Altana thought they could handle this. Kira thought she was a little crazy.
None of her training had prepared her for this. The chaos of a real battle, the alternating frigid wind and searing heat as they buffeted in a maelstrom of explosions and ice against her wings. She had spent so many years, keeping them held so tightly to her back- an attempt to minimize (how useless had that ever been, and yet...) the differenced between her and her human family. So many years, keeping them as tightly against her as she could and yet the first explosion that rocked the ground near her has blown them wide- enormous black wings stark against the snow. A target, she knew, even as she fought them back down.
Time was meaningless. It could have been minutes or hours and she couldn't have told someone after the fact. Everything beyond her friend at her side was a blur, lost in the chaos-
Until the ground rumbled and the planet itself turned against them.
At least, that's what it felt like when the avalanche filled her vision with nothing but white.
She managed to wrap her wings around her in the heartbeat before the wall of ice hit her. The weight of it bore her down, tumbled her along with it like a child's toy. More than once she felt the more solid thump of Arcana against her. Which was less comforting than one might hope. Up, down, she had no idea, or even how far it brought her before the motion stopped and she was able to start to dig herself out. Somehow, she'd kept a hold on her lightsaber- simple, a beginner's tool rather than the custom weapons her more experienced siblings wielded. Pushing with her wings, she managed to snake her left arm up, igniting the saber above her head.
The melting snow sent trickles of icy water down her face and neck, but she persisted as the air in the pocket around her face grew stale until-
Light poured in above her, and she rotated the saber, melting a larger hole above. She knew Arcana was just behind her, but as long as she was also conscious, she'd have no problem crawling out of the hole that would accommodate Kira's wings.
It was an icy hell that she clawed her way out of, panting and simply thankful that she hadn't broken every bone in her body.
Location: Bespin, Cloud City. Objective: Secure... Well, Something. Allies: [member="Ignatius Rausgeber"] Enemies: To Be Seen.
"Foreign Office?" One of the Troopers said. The large, superhuman troopers swung on their cords, swinging into the stairwell around the Agent, effectively surrounding him as they sized up the man. Standing at heights of around seven feet tall, the Agent that hardly came close to bring six foot was dwarfed by the squad of four Death Troopers. "What's Foreign Office doing on Bespin?"
"Quiet..." Prophet said as he lifted his arm, the DataPad embedded into his armour coming to life as he scanned the features of the Agent. "Can't seem to get an identity from him..." A large metal finger prodded the screen to no end and he dropped his arm.
"We don't want your personal effects, shrimp."
"We're only here to give out one thing, guy."
"Can we grant diplomatic immunity? I mean, we can just shoot him in the face and go on with the mission, right?"
"You ain't ever seen Death in trooper form, kid?"
"We've got a mission, and you're in the way," Prophet, Carnage Lead said.
"I am glad I lived to see this. To look into the Abyss. To see first hand the evil we dedicate our lives to fight, pure and raw. It is a privilege few Imperial warriors are granted."
- Ervin Hekate, Quoted from Titan (Graphic Novel Series) by Dan Abnett.
Blinking away the momentary fatigue that had flickered through his veins, the Captain watched as the glasteel viewports vanished behind a thick curtain of machine-forged iron. It was standard operating procedure for void-wayfaring vessels as they traversed the ionized fields of the Ison Corridor, for the chance of an errant meteorite smashing through the overlapping sphere's of fire and reinforced plating of the forward observation deck was on the wrong side of uncertainty. That was an unacceptable margin. One that the First Order and the crew of the ‘Nolantia’ after that could ill-afford to make. Not when their foes were within their proverbial arms reach. Thus, every regulation would be followed to the letter. It was their duty. No one had forced them into this life, for it was one they had chosen themselves. They wanted to inherit this mantle of responsibility, and as the newly minted Vanquisher - Class Star Destroyer had readied itself for battle, those dwelling within its metallic husk set themselves to the task. Though the Captain couldn’t see it taking place, as his attention was focused elsewhere, the man was more than confident in the abilities of his subordinates. Their training had prepared them for this moment, and he was convinced that they would do him proud when the first volley was unleashed.
When the shutters had finally clicked into place, effectively sealing the command trench off from the natural light that permeated the entirety of the nebula, Achim tore his gaze away from the metallic curtain and turned towards the swarming sea of cloth-bound flesh instead. There, he had born witness to years of training given form and function. The sight had caused a swell of pride in his shoulders, forcing the venerable officer’s back to stiffen with the effort. A move that had seen several of his vertebrae snap back into position and emit a sound akin to twigs in the underbrush under duress. The mental image, having come to the forefront of his thoughts, was an unwelcome one. Whenever one cracks their back, it should never spur forth the notion of broken twigs. It was unsettling, even for a combat veteran such as Achim Veers. With the deed complete and the perturbing thought banished from his mind, the Captain stalked along the central spine of the crescent command trench and began requesting updates.
Information was power, and before he had blindly rushed off into the fray - the man needed to know that his vessel was ready for action.
Without being shouted, the reports were handed off to their commanding officer with all the efficacy expected of an Imperial warship, leaving the Captain well-informed of his vessel’s status before he had even made it to the opposite end of the command trench. All commands within the Destroyer had given him the green light, signaling their readiness for the tumult to come. As he had expected, his subordinates had done right by him. His only hope now was that such competence was displayed once they had entered the active engagement area. Well, the man mused with a pursing lip, it was time for them to find out. Rousing his dominant hand from its twin’s embrace, Achim pointed towards to sealed blast shutters and began demanding that the ‘Nolantia’ be brought into the fray.
That was when his orders were seen through, and the spooling hyperdrive had spun into an active cycle. The primary deflector shields had suddenly collapsed, redirected and overtaken by the motivator’s deeply ingrained safety measures. They could ill-afford to miss, and smash themselves into the surface of the distant world they were seeking to protect. Therefore, every precaution had to be taken into account. The various Navigator’s manning their posts had cross-checked their numbers and re-ran the simulations to ensure their calculations were correct. Utilizing the encrypted data provided to them by the myriad of satellites and station’s dotting the sector, the Vanquisher - Class was able to safely plot a course out of the nebula with little concern of painting the entirety of the Indellian Gateway with the ashen revenants of the unjustly slain. With the thought of history mocking the ashes of their bones laid to rest, the 'Nolantia' began it’s dimensional transit rituals - before vanishing into the ionized curtain of night - with a flicker of pseudomotion.
Though a scant collection of seconds had passed, it felt like an eternity to the Crew of the Destroyer. They knew that when they dropped out of the swirling azure tides of hyperspace, they would be beset upon all sides by the enemy. It was likely they’d take several milliseconds of sustained fire from the enemy before their deflector shields had enveloped the entirety of the Star Destroyer. However, knowing that many of the Alliance vessels from their ramshackle collection of ships that populated the stars for nearly a decade, had limited capabilities to counter and engage an enemy warship once it had robbed them of their greatest advantage.
Distance.
“Commander,” Achim called out as the chronometric timer plummeted towards it’s expected terminus. “Ensure that our point defense arrays are fully primed and tracking enemy munitions as soon as we drop out of hyperspace. I want each and every concussion missile or torpedo shot out of the void as soon as humanly possible.” His second in command had saluted his acknowledgment and went about his duties, ensuring that his commands were followed to the letter. “Reversion in three seconds!” One of the Navigator’s called out, giving the Captain all the time he needed to return to his tactical table. As he had left the command deck, his ears had heard one of the communications officer’s mention that two of the taskforce’s escorts had followed after him and set themselves to the task. The ‘Pious Fervour,’ and the ‘Spirit of Justice’ had kept formation throughout the seconds they had spent in the swirling tides of the aether. Meaning that when they reverted into realspace - they would ride upon the ‘Nolantia’s coronal wake and end up in what one would assume would be an advantageous position.
“Reversion in one second, brace for transition!”
“Dorsal cannons, prepare for broadsides!”
Emerging from the tempestuous tides of hyperspace with flickering trails of lightning coruscating across the ionized surface of the 'Nolantia,' the Vanquisher - Class Star Destroyer had rejoined reality with all the fury and majesty expected of an Imperial warship. In the seconds after it’s tumultuous arrival, dozens of portside weapon banks shifted in their mountings as they hunted through the darkness of the void, searching for prey. Within the time it had taken a human heart, more specifically Achim’s heart, to beat thunderously - they had found their target. The ventral surface of the vessel bearing the name of Excubitor from her signaling pennants. The Battlecruiser would prove to be a mighty foe, and one that was more than worthy of testing against the Vanquisher’s nigh-force imbued power. Like the Resurgent - Class Destroyers of old, their turbolasers were enhanced by the mysterious kyber crystals, which had increased their power significantly in comparison to their standard brethren and would wreck havoc upon all that fell under their predatory gaze.
With the Excubitor shielded, and much of its weaponry directed towards a distant target, Achim began to plot out a myriad of assumptions. He wasn’t certain just how many ventral weapons this battlecruiser had, but it was safe to believe that it’s architect had evenly spread the vessel’s allotted weapon batteries to cover every possible angle of approach. That being said, there was only so many things that could be fired from a warship’s ventral surface. Especially from a vessel nearly twice it’s size. Nevertheless, with the superstructure of the ‘Nolantia’ running amidship to the Excubitor, but situated beneath its planar vector, Captain Achim did not hesitate. Once the targeting resolutions chimed with their resonant notes, and their operators had reported such information - the man became a dervish. All sense of frailty was lost, and youthful vigour once again embraced his war-weary bones.
“BROADSIDES!”
He boomed, allowing his bequeathed authority to lace every syllable.
The Vanquisher began to list, dropping further down the planar vectors as the Destroyer trench slowly came about - aligning with the underbelly of the Battlecruiser. When that moment had come, it would unleash the devastation its variable payload of proton and concussion missiles - hopefully tearing into a weakened shield. Until that moment, so far in the future, the twinned powered of enhanced Ion and Turbolaser cannons would open fire. Filling the ocean of infinite night with spears of coalesced emerald and sapphire lightning, spat forth by both the long range and standard batteries. The gap between the two vessels was leagues apart by earthen standards, for it was too much of a risk to jump in-system any closer, but regarding void warfare - where the two vessels were presently situated - this was on the verge of being considered brawling at extremely close quarters.
Having dropped out of hyperspace in formation with their command ship, the two Anti-starfighter Corvettes followed their leader’s path and had targeted the Excubitor. Though they were outclassed and outmatched concerning firepower, they sought to become the thorn in the vessel’s commander’s side - as they spat highly ionized plasma along the warship’s projected path. All the while, their smaller weapons began tracking the bespeckled curtain of night, searching for projectiles belched forth from the battlecruisers missile tubes, or starfighters that would inevitably spill out of the various hangar bays most likely implanted within that technological terror.
The Halberd’s on the other hand, remained in the nebula - but began stalking towards the perimeter - eager to bloody the Alliance Armada with its long-range weaponry...
Kyrel stood there waiting patiently, he had wondered if his taunts had worked, but alas it seemed that they didn't work. It would not matter he had been waiting to face Kerrigan since Kaeshana, and she had something that belonged to the Dark Knight. He would stand there waiting still moving back as the Tank kept moving, either way, Kyrel had one mission, he had to defend this area and prevent more especially the beast known as Kerrigan from entering. This mission was part of his duty to the Supreme Leader, but it was also a personal vendetta. One that had been coming for a very long time. He ignored Shaw's words even though she was right, but he knew what he was doing by employing the tactic of Dun Moch. Nonetheless, he had to be prepared for anything. It also looked that even though he was focusing and visualizing the shield generator being destroyed in his mind, that too had not worked.
Then all of a sudden his danger sense triggered him through the Force, and as he looked several small balls pierced his torso, and through the outer levels of his armor. He roared in pain as he stumbled back, and then when a large shell came in his direction he had enough time to counter the oncoming shell, and so with the Force, he directed it in a different direction with a little nudge it flew past him. But then what happened next was something he did not expect. All of a sudden a Marine came at him with what looked to be a hammer, unfortunately for him, his attack did not do the desired effect. When his strike came his Mandalorian Power Shield came on, and so any type of physical or kinetic attack would be tricky when coming at him head on. As the shield absorbed most of the attack and so Kyrel was still standing looking at him unscathed.
His breathing increased as he stared at the Marine through the faceless expression of his mask, but if looks could kill, the marine would be dead at this very moment. The balls managed to hit some of his flesh, but in doing so Kyrel's pain and rage magnified in strength as well. His power increased as he was now looking upon his foes angrily and with a gesture of his hand, and with swift concentration sent the man flying violently towards the hull of the tank, with a powerful Force Push.
He knew that even with all his power, this was gonna take some effort not on his part, but that of his fellow Ren and whatever allies that came before them. He decided to get into the trench with Shaw to get some cover from the artillery barrage, and in fact came in as Siobhan launched a Telekinetic Blast. He looked to Shaw as he knew she could handle such things. "Well Shaw, if you have any ideas on how we may win now is the time." He said looking around and contacted Pierce on his comlink once again. "Do your strafing run now, keep hitting them, their shields cannot hold out forever, in fact, I am also going to be requesting additional help."
He then patched his comm into sending a transmission to Staff Seargent Desmaris. He said to her coldly, and with a sense of urgency as he waited for the enemy's next move. "Desmaris... This is Kyrel Ren, If you aren't too busy I need some support now. Whether you can give me artillery, troops, anything would be most useful. I will not allow the Firemane into the base, and so your assistance would be most appreciated in holding them back." He said as he activated his lightsaber, and set a Force Barrier around himself. He would defend this path with everything that he had, his hate would not allow the enemy to get through and any help was needed at this point as long as he could prevent the enemy from getting passed and into the base.
Location: Ivax Nebula, Ison Corridor
Objective: DAS BOOOOOOT
Allies: GA, [member="Alexandra Morrow"], [member="Vilin"], [member="Raze Lyter"], [member="Cathul Thuku"], [member="Rick Kaloo"], [member="Sieb Tevv"] et al.
Enemies: FO, [member=T'yr Dellos] (engaging) [member="Achim Veers"], [member="Carlyle Rausgeber"], [member="Ashin Varanin"], et al.
Gear: In Sig (except for uniform)
Control Room, Sullustan Monitor ANS Nautilus Ivax Nebula, Alliance Vanguard Outer Rim
Commodore Pulsar had been on the verge of giving the order to increase power to their engines when their sensor readouts lit up like a Life Day celebration.
"Alright I think we're far enough under the nebula's interference curtain," he dared to raise his voice slightly in the hushed environment, "Prepare for minimal subli-"
"Contact!" the sensor officer cried a little too loudly, "Feth, a lot of contact. Sorry sir, reading multiple engine plumes right on our asses. Again, sorry sir."
"Nevermind the apologies, give me details," Zark's tone was calmly insistent but held no edge to it, "What do we see?"
"I can't give you specifics without more power to the sensors, but at this range I can give you a pretty good guess," at the Commodore's nod, the young man continued, "Seven smaller engine plumes, corvette or frigate class, its difficult to say. And another much larger reading sir, either two destroyers right on top of each other or something a whole lot bigger, possibly a battlecruiser."
"Its a trap!" Bashir shouted.
"Best laid plans..." Zark muttered to himself, "Alright boys, looks like the First Order had the same idea we did, only they had it first. They must have been running on low power, otherwise we would have picked them up even through all this interference. The good news is, that gives us some time. It'll take them a little while to ramp up to full sublight. I want a tightbeam to the Phantom, on my command we'll engage a sensor burst and then scatter, I want her captain to know that when we do she is to make best speed for Admiral Morrow and the Alliance line. Chances are they won't make it there before the shooting starts, but the readings we obtain may be critical in formulating a proper counter strategy."
Almost the moment he finished speaking, the well drilled monitor crew set about executing his directives as quickly as possible. Shuffling through the dank control room over to the main podium upon which his executive officer Commander Bashir leaned, Zark stumbled into position across from the Mon Cal as the aging stealth frigate's artificial gravity systems fluctuated once more under the low power settings.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Bashir murmured, too low for the others to hear, "A sensor burst won't just give us away, it'll paint an awfully big target on our backs."
"I don't plan to be here very long," Zark answered in the same hushed tone, "I'm betting by the time we engage the Imperials will be too committed to their charging maneuver to redirect back towards in the nebula in the hopes we'll be hanging around. As far as the element of surprise goes, even if they don't know where we are exactly I'd say its a good bet their Empire knows we're here."
The seconds ticked by, until one by one each crew member in the room turned to their commanding officer and nodded. Upon the last confirmation, his knuckles whitened on the edge of the station in front of him and his expression tightened into a steely eyed gaze.
"Engage."
"Multiple contacts!" the sensor officer reported all at once, "All approaching full impulse on a course out of the nebula directly for the Alliance lines. Six corvettes and a frigate, and what looks like a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer but something's different...its the Malice, sir."
The FIV Malice, Zark had faced off against the First Order command ship before in orbit of Skor.
"That's it, Commodore," the officer said, "Last scans showed the Phantom on a direct course for Phoenix Fleet."
"Alright, new heading," he began, "Bring us about on the coronal plane-"
He sensed the disturbance in the Force seconds before the proximity alarms.
Evasive action, he projected into minds of the other monitor captains, at the same time his lips moved, "Evasive maneuvers, full sublight! Dive dive dive!"
Suddenly, the foglights shuddered and there was violent turbulence that nearly threw the Jedi Knight from his feet. At first, he thought they had been hit, but as he scanned the diagnostics in front of them he realized it had merely been an extremely close call. Their position was being shelled by some sort of artillery fire.
"Someone talk to me! Where the feth is that coming from?" he barked.
"Unknown, searching!" came the response, "This doesn't make sense. Some sort of cluster munition, but their vector seems to place the point of origin from the last known location of a civilian vessel. Some sort of Trandoshan horse?"
"We can't afford to make any assumptions," Zark reasoned, "And we're not exactly in a position to do anything about it."
"The Argo was hit!" another crew member cried, "Receiving emergency tightbeam transmission! Light structural damage, minor casualties, heavy drain to shields. Sir, they're leaking power."
Kark, Zark swore to himself as he closed his eyes. That was just about the worst news he had heard all day. Although the monitors' impervium hulls were difficult to penetrate, the damage the Argo had sustained from what must have been some sort of electromagnetic charges, their stealth systems had failed to the extent that their position had likely been revealed. Zark was faced with a choice no commander of men ever wished to face. His sense of duty as an officer conflicted with the Jedi inside of him, but with all those still counting on him his course was nonetheless clear.
"Cut her lose, signal the Ghostwall to scatter," he ordered, "Tightbeam the Argo's captain, tell them to make the jump to hyperspace if they can. If not, attempt emergency repairs and make for the Alliance line."
"Aye, sir."
"The sensor burst must have given us away," Bashir muttered.
Commodore Pulsar shrugged noncommittally, but inside he wasn't so sure. That bombardment had been well timed, well executed. Whoever had attacked them wouldn't have had enough time, they must have somehow detected them when the monitors had penetrated the nebula. Zark had only made things a whole lot worse at exactly the wrong moment. The burdens of command. And a second strike could be headed their way any second, either to hunt the remaining ships down or finish off the more or less helpless Argo.
"We're not out of this fight yet," he said at last, "Find me a target. Its time we were the hunters for a change."
Summary of Actions
Monitors sensor burst and scatter as First Order ambush begins to clear the nebula. Phantom moves off on a course back to Alliance lines shortly before remaining monitors are shelled by EMP fire from [member=T'yr Dellos"]. Argo is hit, its shields critically weakened, and its position revealed. Remaining two monitors take evasive action and return to silent running. No offensive actions taken.
FLEET
ANS Nautilus- Hull | Shields
ANS Argo- Hull | Shields
ANS Ghostwall- Hull | Shields
ANS Phantom- Hull | Shields (returning to [member="Alexandra Morrow"])
A small savage smirk let up Aedan's face as another First Order flotilla dropped out of hyperspace and started engaging the forces under command of Cathul. Standing he strode forward before closing his eyes and slowly crouching down to meditate. As they felt the influence of Aedan's battle meditation the hidden four squadrons of the highly deadly and effective Devastator-class fighters burst out of the nebula joining with the remaining 3 squadrons of x-wings and the 3 Venom-class squadrons to engage the enemy fighters in a dog fight their weapons flaring forth as they seemed to move more swiftly and fluidly around. The remaining squadron of the Remnant-class joined up with the two K-wing squadrons and they all started to swiftly move at the enemy capital ship the T-90 Arrow-class breaking away and moving to escort them. The longer Aedan meditated the farther it reached out until it encompassed the battlefield bringing clearer and sharper vision to the gunners and pilots of the First Order clarity of mind to their commanders as their enemy pilots would start to react sluggishly at first fear slowly starting to gnaw at the edge of their minds.
Summary
Devastator-class, XJ-9 Advanced X-wing and Venom-class all moving to engage and tangle up the Fighter screen.
Remnant-class and K-wing moving to begin bombing runs while being escorted by the T-90 Arrow-class
Losses so far: 1 full squadron of XJ-9's and Remnant-class
Aedan started to use battle meditation
Shields: 30% Hull 90%
Various Mobile Weapon Platform droids, multiple Light Models with RC-1 and MD-1, some Medium Models with RC-1 in anti-air configuration, and few Heavy Models with MD-1 anti-armor configuration
The Twilight Company's calls for air support would not go unanswered for too long, as soon enough the droid and drone air forces under HK's command followed his example to clash with the TIE fighters brought over their position and swoop in from time to time to conduct a strafing run of hypervelocity bullets and proton torpedos against enemy armored units. The noise of their repeated shots and explosions blended in into the background of battle as heroes and villains clashed against each other on the ice clad surface of the snow planet. From time to time a large winged shadow would pass over the Twilight Company's armored units, blending in with the remaining snowspeeders as the battle raged on.
[member="Asharad Graush"],
The energy beam emanating from the tip of black phrik staff whined and hummed, faster and louder, as its intensity grew with each second, mixing with the noise of thrusters built into the mechanical dragon HK was riding as the beast circled around in the air above the juggernaut tank like a vulture waiting for its prey to keel over. Suddenly there was a sudden burst of energy as a Force field was raised in the path of HK's weapon and a scream of engines as a series of TIE fighters flew by, firing their lasers in passing at the dragon and the droid.
Their energy projectiles shot across the sky and clashed against the dragon's own shield, causing it to light up in brilliant colorful light repeatedly until finally a few shots pierced through it, striking the droid beast on one of its wings. Their shots were quickly answered by the dragon's tail contracting and coiling about, aiming right after the fighters as another beam of energy was formed at its crystal tip, erupting outward and slashing through the air in magnificent display of colors to try and slice one of them right through its solar panel wings and cockpit.The TIE fighters passed by and the dragon screamed out in the mechanical whine of its damaged machinery and the shrieks of thrusters, jerking to one side as its circle around the Juggernaut tightened, one wing hanging loosely, twitching and jerking in small movements to try and steer the beast as best as it could, the other moving rapidly in harsh desperate strokes to try and overcompensate. However, the dragon still stayed in the air and HK in its saddle, clinging tightly to the flight controls with one hand, the other keeping his staff steady to allow its stream of energy to keep pouring out towards the juggernaut, clashing against the Force shield raised in its path. His multiple faces bobbed softly as his head continuously turned, watching everything, sending out orders to his other drones and droids in the air.
The energy stream clashing against the shield exploded outward with strange alien flames, dancing in the air and licking up at the skies, trying to swallow and consume everything in their path yet burning out almost immediately as there was nothing to fuel their existence, only to be continuously replaced by a new wave of unstable energy fire. HK wandered and fought his way through the Galaxy for long enough to recognize many types of shields and deflectors, he has also spent plenty of time alongside Force users to know many of their powers, he knew a Force-born shield when he saw one, plus he noticed the man come out of a hatch and do his thing, which was the biggest clue of all. The powers of the Force often outclassed anything forges and laboratories could produce, as much was true, but there was price to be paid for everything, and the droid understood that. While his beam may not have been powerful enough, at least not yet, to possibly pierce the shield, it only drained its own power source, one HK could easily enough replenish by sacrificing another crystal, the shield he was facing was being fueled by someone else's energy, their lifeblood, and that was not brought back so easily. All that droid had to do was outlast them. Plus he wanted to test their strength first, with each second the beam would grow hotter and more intense, at its peak it would be like a continuous stream of a lightsaber blade, although it would not get to that point for a while longer, still the machine wanted to see how much of it the Force user challenging him could really take.
Smoke billowed out and oil splattered from the wounded wing on the Mechanical Dragon, a couple of Wyrm drones passed by them with scream of their thrusters, chasing after the TIE fighters, their hypervelocity miniguns screaming out in bursts of fire aimed at the enemy fighters. A group of squid drones whipped in through the sky, catching up to HK and his dragon, quickly clashing against the injured droid and clinging over its body before going to work. Their tentacles begun to move quickly, sparks and light firing off from the maw on their elongated 1 meter-long bodies as the drones begun to repair damaged done to the dragon. HK's free hand left flight controls only briefly to move quickly over a small console attached to them, plugging in orders to engage the autopilot and let its drone mind take over before he disengaged the magnetic anchors in the beast's saddle, freeing himself from being attached to it.
HK's jetpack and rocket boots engaged, personal thrusters pulling back from its body, stretching out the biot armor covering him until the exhausts cleared its organic embrace, causing the armored organisms around his Phrik body to hiss and squeal uncomfortably before the jets sparked up and HK flew off from the back of his dragon just as the mechanical beast rolled away to fly off after the TIE fighters that tried to shot it down, those squid drones still clutching to its wounded wing and torso with their magnetic appendages, trying to pull it back together. HK hovered in the air above the battle, his black chameleon cloak flapping madly like wings of some foul omen, his staff still in hand as he emanated the continuous beam of energy towards the shield, staring at Asharad from across the expanse. To the droid this was just another victim foolish enough to dare and oppose him, the man may have thought himself mighty enough to protect a tank, but the droid calculated that by the day's end he will show him just how wrong he was. He could end it right here and there, he had the tricks for it, all he had to do was get closer, snap his fingers, and the Force user would have been twitching on the back of this juggernaut he climbed out from. But that was not the path HK walked, he preferred to take his time, to actually have fun with it, after all he was immortal, he was endless, what would be the point of such existence if he just killed all of his enemies like that? Eventually he would run out of them and then he would be just so incredibly bored.
No, the droid was going to test the man first, see what the extend of his powers truly are, see just how long he can keep this shield of his up before breaking him down like he did with Jude before and Connor so recently, even Preliat and his clones were not able to shut the droid down. Or at least he would have done if things went according to HK's plan, which they rarely do.
CLUNG!TWOOOOOOOOOOM!
There was the loud noise of TIE fighter's jets screaming by and something hitting a transparisteel screen as one of the starcraft passed by and HK was suddenly gone. Perhaps it was intentional or perhaps it was an accident, but the energy beam stopped, cut short before reaching its peak of power, probably before even getting halfway there, and HK found himself silently staring back at the black suit of a FO pilot behind the TIE's controls.
The droid was currently splayed out, still clutching the staff, sandwiched between his black cloak and the transparisteel screen of the cockpit. He was pinned down against the surface by g-forces of the TIE fighter that collided with the droid while he was hovering and channeling an energy beam, perhaps all three of his faces were distracted thinking about how easy it would be to defeat Asharad to notice the FO craft moving closer.
However HK's main attack on the Juggernaut tank came in form of a group of squid drones twirling and speeding through the sky like semi-sentient torpedoes, heading for the tank's cockpit while HK was getting out of the saddle and being rammed by a TIE fighter.
[member="Fiver"],
As the squid drones mentioned above begun to head for the tank they let loose a salvo of ionic shots from their built-in ion weaponry aimed at the tank's weapons. Their weapons were only blaster-sized so they would probably not be able to disable the whole of Juggernaut's weapons, even if the tank didn't had any outer protections against such attacks or didn't somehow intercept them, but at the very least they would probably impede them as multiple shots were fired. Either way, they would be still in the process of moving towards the tank to close in aiming for the cockpit and weapon systems before they would really start causing trouble.
While HK was on a distinctively dragon-like droid mount before, there would be actually other humanoid droids riding the more serpentine wyvern drones rather than other dragons. That was because mechanical dragons were intelligent droids in their own regard, placing a droid pilot on them would be redundant, while the wyvern drones were more like semi-sentient simple beasts and actually benefited from help of an intelligent droid pilot, plus they could bring them quickly onto a battlefield to deploy as forward assault or recon teams. Either way, whoever on their team was arguing about Beast Riders, most of the droid riders in the sky were mounted on a distinctively more wyvern-like constructs.
[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],
Meanwhile, as HK was being whisked away gods know where pinned against the cockpit screen of the TIE fighter he received a message from Kerrigan and responded to it promptly,
"I will be honest, I have been better."
The droid quipped although the joke may have gone over Kerrigan's head as she was probably not aware of the machine's current predicament,
"The FO are pushing with their sudden armored division into Sol's flank, I am moving my buzz droids and heavy starfighters against them now. We are dealing with their starfighter escort and the Outpost anti-air is trying to thin us down but outside of missiles we are out of their range. They are lead by a Force user but if we keep them cut off by our position under my air presence we can probably finish them off fairly quickly."
HK explained the situation from his perspective, he could always just drop proton bombs on the FO armored units from the mechanical dragons, but that would have risked damaging their allies as well, plus it wasn't as fun as toying with them first,
"How are things on your end?"
He asked, sending another silent message with his build-in communications.
Allies:First Order Enemies:Galactic Alliance and their allies. Objective: Assist the First Order in crushing the Galactic Alliance through any means.: Location: Hoth
She couldn't allow the First Order to become a victim of defeat by some pathetic weaker cause such as the Galactic Alliance. The fact that they're even pathetically invading Hoth grew out of her mind. How was she going to conduct business peacefully, should thees fools from the Galactic alliance continue to interrupt her? Sometimes, she considers on joining the First Order Military itself... she did used the force after all, and did participated in the battle of Thakwan. In her small, swift fighter, she begun to speed towards the Hoth System to help engage against enemy forces that were there. It was clear to Charlotte that she could make a name for herself had she put effort into trying to destroy off these invaders. Flying in, she begun to sneak into the frey and break through the siege trying to avoid getting show down by any means.
Even if they try to hit her down, Charlotte was not going to let in, and just let them get away with that, rather, she would probably attempt to fire back at those who try to stop her from getting in. Though, Charlotte wanted to help her comrades on the ground on Hoth, as it might need an extra force user, namely a witch to help stop the enemy from attacking.
Charlotte Miraak has entered the battlefield, and is approaching Hoth. She will engage any hostile enemy fighter should they attempt to persue or open fire on her. If no one chooses to pursue, she will land on Hoth and attack Galactic Alliance forces. She is entering the war as an ally to the First Order.
A bemused smile crawled across Carlyle's cheeks as the Shield Officer gave his status report. The rage which had consumed him when he'd listened to the condescending call to action had all but dissipated.That coy smile grew wider, exposing more of Rausgeber's teeth as he breathed out, exposing the bridge to the intoxicating smell of tobacco, "Repeat those figures to me." Carlyle began, his voice little more than a dry, husky tone, as if aroused. "I want to hear them again." "Shields are holding at ninety four percent sir." The Shield Officer reported, eyeing his commanding officer cautiously. Carlyle chuckled at the figures. The kyber shielding had handily absorbed the sustained oncoming fire. As well as the bombardment from the Resolute Vengeance and it's ill-fated attempts to disable the anti-fighter escorts to the flank of the Malice. The corvettes avoided most of the damage, and some of it missed, though the reinforced hull of the battlecruiser tanked most of the damage. "Are there any actions you'd like to-" The Shield Officer began.
"Continue with current targeting solutions." Carlyle replied, cutting the officer off, in the distance, he eyed the ANS Excubitor. It was a ship that he had seen before, at the very least a similar model. And there was only one commander who used it. "I suspect, that we are dealing with none other than the unimaginative Cathul Thuku." The Admiral added in a sharp tone. "If she is the one in charge of this debacle, then I think we may as well set course to reinforce other commands." He added, to the bemusement of his crew.
Carlyle's eyes narrowed, as he inhaled more of the cigarette. The two officers had crossed paths before. Mostly at Therapy Command's detriment, with Rausgeber having defeated his opponent on more than one occasion. It had only been at their last clash over Skor, when the First Order had been outnumbered nearly two to one that Thuku forced a retreat from the system. Now Carlyle was eager to prove himself the better once again, and show the Galaxy, whose navy was superior.
Naval doctrine, and a suspicion of sudden supposed update received through comms units were enough to trigger the suspicion of the reactor engineering units was tipped, and the attempts to slice the reactor units were thwarted at the door. As an extra precaution, the easily replacable terminals were isolated, and then forcibly disconnected from the terminal units, and promptly replaced them.
As the ANS Defiance, Remember Eridau, Firebird and Resolute pattered ineffectively on his shields, a feeling of confusion fell on the Admiral. Carlyle somewhat anticipated more from the Galactic Alliance. In fact, he was rather surprised that the commanders of the Alliance's strike force had not focused more assets on mitigating his fleet. Carlyle frowned, was there some greater game afoot? Had the First Order perhaps been drawn into a trap of their own? As his mind wandered, he turned back to his tactical display, and watched the Defiance's paranoia. The commander had preemptively begun to fire his flak weaponry, even though there was no direct threat to the ship. It was time to change that. Carlyle returned his concentration to the battle at hand. "Comms, prepare Captain Banning for a tactical manoeuvre." Carlyle began, "I want his pack to move as soon as possible."
"Yes sir," the Signals Officer reported, "Captain Banning is ready and waiting for orders sir."
"Order his bolt pack to move to the flank of that lone frigate." Carlyle commanded, "It's obvious from his erratic behaviour he's a little fresh at this." Carlyle added, "Move to the blind spots of the ship, away from where his flak is, and where fire will be limited. His mission is to then disable engines." A sadistic smirk washed over Carlyle's face, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "We'll pick him apart when we're finished dealing with the 'adults'."
The bolt pack slipped under the Malice, using the battlecruiser as a shield as the ships rushed towards the Defiance. The pack fired a preliminary blast of plasma torpedoes, before rushing towards the soft underbelly of the cruiser. The game was on.
Upon noting the datapad on the lead troopers arm, Ignatius felt somewhat safe and secure. He recognised it, it was technology similar to his own, albeit modified to perhaps be a little less durable. He lowered his arms, however he still felt tense. Particularly at the jabs given by the troopers. "I'm not technically with the Foreign Office," Ignatius began, well, that was a white lie, he could argue in any court of law technically, he was, but that was arbitrary at this point. "I'm FOSB." He added.
The terminal beeped, declaring that the data had been successfully backed up. Rausgeber eyed the men, and unplugged his datapad, "I was sent by local FOSB to clear out data caches." He continued, "They didn't want to do it, they didn't have the time to fabricate the ID's, or the paperwork to be convincing government operatives, so they chose me. I have diplomatic credentials, ergo..." He paused to consider how to decide to describe the outburst, begging for mercy, "My little episode there." He finally said, "Judging by the fact I haven't seen your... well, kind, I take it you're the other team command sent to work on this."
"Time is of the essence gentlemen, so let's get down to business." Ignatius decided it was time to take the lead, "Given our imperative is to sabotage any possible industrial activities here, I found through trawling through documents here, that the top secret industrial projects I was given the imperative to wipe data for, may have a localised back up." Ignatius brought it up on his wrist mounted datapad, showing off the carbon freezing centre, "We're going to need to act quickly," Rausgeber warned, "Who knows how long it'll be safe to remain here for."
"Shambhala hit, FIV Master & Defender, both misses."
Silara frowned. The distance between their fleets was not a vast expanse. They had to be exceptionally fast to be able to manoeuvre around a computer calculated firing solution. Still there were other factors coming into play that ruled out another attack. Thuku's Command group was becoming swarmed.
"Ma'am picking up something else...Whow what the kark!"
"What!"
"Nolantia just jumped.. microjump below ANS Excubitor and opened fire."
That wasn't good. Silara's frown deepened. Microjumps were a very very hard thing to pull off and if the Nolantia had a Captain and crew that well rehearsed, that put them at the front of her danger/target list. She smoothed her blue uniform and lit another deathstick, transitioning it to her left hand whilst she scrolled screens with her right.
The Resolute Vengeance didn't have much of a chance alone, but it's combined weapons could definitely put a dent in shields and that could be all the edge Admiral Thuku needed if she played her cards right.
"What are we doing about the Shambhala Ma'am?" The XO xhimed in.
Silara took a drag and let the smoke whisp out of her nostrils.
"Let her go."
The XO raised an eyebrow. Silara scoffed.
"Wasn't that your advice five seconds ago XO? Helm!"
"Aye Ma'am!"
"Rotate us on vertical axis twenty degrees. Weapons, status!"
"Both Javelins up, all systems green."
As the Resolute Vengeance tunred her weapons heated up, servos whining, magnetic capacitors charging and crackling.
"Calculate firing Solution on the FIV Nolantia. All weapons."
Seconds ticked by into minutes until her screens flashed with the green lights she so loved. With another drag another plume of smoke cascaded from her and she roared.
"Fire!"
Again six heavy metal slugs ripped from the bores of the Heavy and Mini Javelin cannons, streaking towards their targets, rumbling the deck beneath their feet. The Ion cannons crackled, and the Mass Drivers fired as well, adding another five rounds downrange. The Nolantia was dead in the middle of her sights.
"Javelin depleted, starting clock for recharge, two minutes."
"Continue firing with Ion and Mass Drivers. Alert when munitions are at half strength. Load and arm Torpedo tubes as reserves."
"Aye Ma'am."
Actions: Fired Heavy Javelin Cannon, Mini Javelin Cannon, 5x Mass Drivers, 10x Heavy Ion Cannon @Nolantia
Location: Ison Corridor Objective: Control the Corridor Allies: [member="Zark"], [member="Cathul Thuku"], [member="Alexandra Morrow"], Silara Varis, GA Enemies: [member="Achim Veers"], [member="Carlyle Rausgeber"], [member="Ashin Varanin"], FO
The gamble had failed. Not only had the battlecruiser survived the shots rather easily, but now it and some of its escorts were turning their guns on the Defiance. Four corvettes, flying toward him, with their battlecruiser blocking the Defiance's turbos. This was clearly a more intelligent captain than Rick had met before. Suddenly, readings said that a volley of plasma torpedoes were coming. "Quickly, turn!" he yelled at his command crew. "Fire the flak cannons at the torpedoes, target the turbolasers on the corvettes!"
About a kilometer before the torpedoes impacted, the ship was completely turned to the left, and the two right flak cannons increased their fire rate. "Disable shielding before thr torpedoes hit!" Rick ordered, and just as the shielding moved over, the plasma torpedoes hit, despite the flak cannons destroying a few. The explosions were devestating to the shielding, crippling it and doing some penetration damage as well. The Defiance was still structurally sound, but its shielding was down almost completely, making the ship vulnerable to any direct assault. Now, Rick just relied on the well-placed and hidden command bridge to prevent himself from getting killed.
While the plasma torpedoes were being engaged unsuccessfully, the Defiance's turbos and laser cannons turned their attention on the four First Order corvettes. A full close range broadside soon began, dozens of turrets all trying to take out the corvettes before they got within firing range. The right flak cannons, also hit hard by the torpedoes, ceased to fire. The left flak cannons also ceased to save energy. If the battlecruiser were to turn on the Defiance now, it would be a sitting duck.
For a second, he completely doubted himself. After all, he was more of a businessman than an admiral.
Defiance (Defiance-class Heavy Assault Frigate)
Actions Summary: Fired a volley of ion cannons at FIV Accuser, focused turbolasers on Accuser, swerved to the left in an attempt to avoid plasma torpedoes, refocused turbolasers on FO corvettes
There was more to the story of Cameron's wife. There were things that, no doubt, none of the family truly knew. Amorella Mae...hadn't died at least not in the traditional sense of being one with the Force for eternity. As her final breaths escaped her lips, Cameron hadn't known what to do. He had taken countless lives...including that of his kin, his children. Yet Amorella had always been different, and as the reality of life without her settled upon his mind in that moment, he decided not to accept the hand fate was trying to deal him. There were methods, secrets of Sith Sorcery that Cameron had and continued to study at great length. He'd become rather proficient at transferring his own essence over the centuries. Using the ability on another? Not so commonplace.
Cameron had enjoyed success, but failure came with it...fate's irritating consolation prize. Amorella's presence had been transferred from the body they all knew, but the Sith Lord had no idea where or into whom it had gone. He thought for sure he would be able to feel her presence as he'd done from half a galaxy away countless times before, but he felt nothing. As if by some cruel joke, he would feel spikes of her comforting presence on random nights as he slept. Concerted efforts to reach into the ether of the Force to grope for his former wife, however, were fruitless. Now? The Sith Lord had resigned himself to the reality that he had condemned the woman he loved to a fate worse than death, trapped between life and death for eternity. Little did he know the woman struggled for control over the body of one [member="Imka Larue"].
Suddenly snapping back to awareness, Cameron's eyes focused on Micah. "Leave." The Sith Lord could sense the presence of the SIS agents and alliance soldiers in the vicinity. The presence of the Galactic Alliance on this station was officially a mistake. With a raise of his free hand, the Sith Lord gripped the Force around the SIS agents and soldiers in the area. Their completely unremarkable presence in the Force readily identified who they were to the Sith. Steadily and silently, the Sith Lord began draining their life forces, siphoning off their energy to restore his own.
"You need to leave right now." If his words were not encouragement enough, Cameron withdrew his Sith Sword. The crimson blade burned red-hot at his touch and, per usual, tendrils of purple-white energy cascaded down the blade before dissipating.
Objective: Stop blushing and push onward into the station
Allies: [member="Vexen"] [member="Micah Talith"] [member="Ipsy"] [member="Allyson Locke"] [member="Deacon"]
Enemies: FO Only tagging those who are directly engaging or have tagged me for engaging [member="Cameron Centurion"] <----- #omgee!!!! [member="Fiolette Yvarro"]
Location: Anoat Space Station
Blue-eyes beneath glass lenses finally refocused as a paw's grip around her arm dragged her up. The defel was a wraith and ironically or not, that's how Spark had lived most her life. In the shadows, like a wisp of smoke passing through the air. Maybe she had more in common with the defel #puppy than she thought.
And if Spark could've sensed more emotion through the force, she might've realized something more dire had changed in Cameron since they'd last met. He was a different man. Wounded and unforgiving.
But the logical minded slicer could not sense these things as she caught one last glimpse of Cameron and Micah before the lift doors closed with herself, the lucky alliance soldiers that were still alive, and Ipsy. #foxpuppy? Only proved that size didn't matter. The three smallest force members moved ahead.
The technopath's protective walls around her mind remained in place as she continued to try and use mechu-deru to override any security protocols in place to get them where they needed to go. She even tried to scramble the floors for the system reader, so if anyone was tracking their progress, they wouldn't know their team was headed toward engineering. Hopefully they'd have the element of surprise. Like ghosts traveling through the station.
If everything went well, in no time, the lift doors would slide open at their destination.
EQUIPMENT: IN BIO
ALLIES IN AREA: [member="Relit Vandal"], GA
ENEMIES IN AREA: [member="Irajah Ven"], [member="Samka Derith"], [member="Alkor Centaris"], FO
Ghorua would've taken some solace in Irajah's reaction to his words, if he had seen it.
Instead, he felt a change in his mind. A powerful being, trying to force it's way in. Ghorua's trained defenses fought against the presence, his powerful mind stabbing and kicking back at the Master of Ren. Even that couldn't stop Samka's words from reaching him.
Outwardly, Ghorua's stance faltered, and he stepped back warily, his eyes drifting off to nothingness. He listened to the Ren's words, his frown ever increasing. Ghorua had no doubt she believed each word she sent his way, and it scared him. But as she prodded and probed deeper and deeper into his brain, something became clear to her.
There was something else in there.
It was barely noticeable at first, a hint of shadow, a twist of a word, a subtle growl. Then, as she finished her piece, and she placed the image of her stepping through the mists towards him, the thing struck.
In the nightmare vision, the sound of shifting and breaking stone permeated the atmosphere, dissipating the mist, leaving the nightmare that was Samka alone, faced by a very different nightmare.
Roiling shadows and red winds, coagulated into a massive storm of Dark-Side energy, A face, Ghorua's face, formed in the hurricane, eyes burning orange with heat. The being said nothing as it apparated next to Samka, and went to consume her.
All of a sudden, Samka's presence in the Shark's mind was attacked from all sides by Ghorua's pure rage. His sheer force of will, combined with the barb-wire edges of his Blood Frenzy, tore into Samka's own mind, trying to force her out.
Outwardly, Ghorua straightened again, a savage glint flashing in his eye for but a second before returning to his calm, collected visage. He readied himself again, in the classic Form V stance.
"Prove it," he said with a smile, before replacing it with a toothy snarl.
The colossus marched forward two steps with practiced haste, activating his Defender Bracelets, and swung down with his saber-pike, using it's extended reach, and his superior strength, to try for a tactic known as the Falling Avalanche. A heavy, downward cut, hoping to smash through defenses with ease.
Location: Bespin, Hotel Suite Objective: Get our shet together Allies: [member="Jorg"], [member="Canal"] Enemies: Embarrassment.
It all happened in a blur.
From one moment to the next Locke was suddenly dragged in between Canal and Jorg, but instinct took over from there. He held Canal back and gave Jorg some space, before forcing the clone to look him in the eye. Away from the datapad with the incriminating evidence of whatever the feth they had been up to last night.
"Get a hold of yourself, man." Elly said, before slapping the man in the face to help him snap out of the moment of weakness. They were here on a mission and there wasn't any time for personal feelings getting into it.
"We need to know what the kark happened to our gear and more importantly what the hell we were supposed to be doing here in the first place."
Even now it was all a haze for Locke.
He vaguely recalled a briefing prior to Bespin, the voice of his handler filtering crisp-clear and cold into his ear, but right before he could make out the words they were snatched away from him again. Once Canal calmed down, he nodded to him and focused his attention to Jorg again.
"Play it. The invasion is already on the way, The Jedi's Grand Marshal is plastered all over every screen. Hearts and minds, I take it." Locke informed him, they had to hurry up, before the entire invasion wrapped up without them.
Once Jorg started playing the 'pad, he looked over the Major's shoulder to get a look as well.
) | [member="Lydia Finn-Camden"] | [member="Aralu Sar"] | [member="Magnus Ren"]
