Faction The Enigma - Case Canopic

[Darth Moskvin]

Enigma

"Horrors, I believe, should be original--the use of common myths and legends being a weakening influence."
- H.P. Lovecraft -
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O'Death​

"Slaughtering civilians are far beneath what I would call entertainment," I rebuttable with a smirk, but in fact was true. What screamed and pleaded in my labs back on Dathomir, those begging for release to have their suffering ended; that was entertainment to me. Those were prospective volunteers for my diabolical experiments. "Slavery is such a harsh word, even by my standards, but a necessity. Do not worry, far be it for me to taint your sense of morality about what constitutes a slave and a prisoner of war."

"And yes, extra fees are a necessity for you," I added, allowing my tone of annoyance about monetary agreements to be well versed upon the old man's ears. "This will be a simple and painless task that I ask of you. Well, painless for you and your fancied name brigade, not so much for those that will frightfully endure the trials of surviving. Come, walk with me."

I lead the old merc away from the ears of the others, not because I was hiding anything sinister from my cohorts, but because I didn't want to hear them complain about what I had in mind. "You may or may not know, which I care little if you did, that the Sith are fracturing. The Sith Order are growing too powerful, to bold, and need to be checked. They preach of grand empires and even grander civilizations. Lies. Sith are Sith, and I aim to remind them of that.

"I would like to purchase your services, and besides those precious credits you so materialistically drool over with cold desires, I offer one favor from me to you, to call in at any time. What I ask is this: I will give you a few vials that contain a virus that will upheave a planet's ecological system, causing a wide planet pandemic. Simple, right? Easy credits and a free favor. And no civilians die by your hand, directly."

I began to walk away before I stopped myself. "Silly me. I forgot to mention the planet. Ord Mantell, and make sure however you must that the Sith Order are cast with the galaxy's long finger of blame. Let's see how they lie out of that mess." This was indeed, of course, for the Empire Reborn and by extension, the Sith Ascendancy, to come to the rescue of the people of Ord Mantell and their new free governmental republic, masked like wolves in sheep's clothing. And for the Sith Order, let them learn harshly how far they fell from their own dogmatic philosophies.




The Lord of Hunger / Darth Callidus / Marlon Sularen / Darth Imperius / Saltare Dothon / Onrai / Box Mattox

 

[Box Mattox]

Conspiratorializing...
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Box was suspicious as Darth Moskvin led him away to have a private chat.

It might be she simply preferred to kill him out of sight from the others. Although, given that she'd suspended an allied trooper in the air just to make a demonstration of her power, he doubted she'd have qualms about slaughtering someone like him in the middle of the gathering.

No... that wasn't it. But the truth ended up being almost as bad.

"You want me to commit ecological biowarfare upon this planet? The one we're standing on right now?

And you want to make sure the Sith catch the blame for it?"

By the cursed creator, this woman was sick. Box couldn't see what the salient difference was between her and the Sith she seemed to oppose.

"Do you need a mercenary company to do this? This sounds like spy-work, not soldiering."

He waited to see what she would say. He had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being set up.

On the other hand, this query made him think... was there need in the Galaxy for a privatized intelligence service?



The Lord of Hunger / Darth Callidus / Marlon Sularen / Darth Imperius / Saltare Dothon / Onrai / Box Mattox / Darth Moskvin

 

[Marlon Sularen]

C A S E_C A N O P I C

EMPIRE REBORN
ORD MANTELL, DEEP CORE

"The Alliance is already stretched thin, fighting the Mandalorian Enclave and the Sith Order. On top of that there is the fallout of that Hapan fiasco that they're most likely still dealing with along with the various humanitarian efforts on worlds like Iridonia, Taris and now the Deep Core. Even for a Galactic Power as strong and powerful as the Alliance, they simply have too much to deal with. Plus knowing how arrogant and self-righteous their Senate is, i doubt they'll even view me as a threat and commit to any sort of reprisals against me. After all that was how they viewed me after the Maw's collapse and they have shown no signs of changing their mindset." Sularen retorted.

It was clear that Onrai still doubted Sularen's ability to succeed in his plans although she was giving far too much credit to the Galactic Alliance. However despite her claims she was merely following a similar approach to the one she had taken in the immediate aftermath of the Maw's collapse, following the path of conserving Imperial assets rather then that of the preservation of the Empire's legacy and ideology and rebirth of the Empire as a whole. It was a passive strategy but one that would only benefit the enemies of the Empire. To develop new infrastructure for Imperial usage while the old infrastructure of the Empire was seized and added to the vast industries of the Galactic Alliance would only put them further at a disadvantage.

Regardless of how Onrai felt about his plans and what her own plans were, Sularen had no intention of changing course. He was not going to roll over and allow his enemies have the last laugh, being forced to watch from the sidelines as the erased the legacy of the Empire. He would continue the fight and set the examples for all Imperials, that the war might have been lost but the struggle would never end. But first he needed to make sure Onrai wouldn't withhold further Imperial Military assets to further compromise his plans. "Although do tell Onrai, what is this Project of yours. I'm quite curious as to know what exactly will 'save' me should the Alliance 'tightens the rope' around my Fleet to harshly"

Tags | Onrai | Darth Moskvin | Saltare Dothon | Box Mattox | The Lord of Hunger ​

 

[The Lord of Hunger]

LOCATION: Ord Mantell
OBJECTIVE: To oversee the creation of The Enigma
IMPORTANT LINKS: Sword | Armor | Jewel | Ring | Necklace | DIII Gluttoneria | The guards | The Enforcer
TAG: Onrai | Darth Moskvin | Darth Callidus | Darth Imperius | Marlon Sularen | Box Mattox | Saltare Dothon

"I do not care about whether or not you are a goddess or whether or not Ord Mantell has as you said a large industry," Tilting his head to the side, squinting his eyes ever so slightly while having trouble restraining his own aura of fear and unease to slowly swirl around him like a dark fog, it was clear that the arrogance of Onrai was getting to his nerves. "I offer you the support of a corporation much larger and resourceful than what a single planet would be able to give you and still you refuse. You are not pragmatic, you are foolish, to ignore a gift given by one such as myself is to never receive it again."

Straightening his back and walking forward, his anger fueling his vitality and adding onto the burning fire within his eyes, the Lord of Hunger made it clear that he could not condone this false god's desire for control in the matter. He came to Ord Mantell not in search of support, but to alleviate the problems that would no doubt befall those who rushed to try and gain a footholding, whose mad scramble for power or rather the stabilization thereoff would not go unnoticed by others claiming to seek stability and consolidation for what remained of the Dark Empire's forces.

"I will condone your actions, but not your lack of foresight," Moving his left hand to the side, the swirling darkness which had begun to spread around him started to retreat once again, concentrated unto one location in front of his outstretched hand, the dark fog started to coalesce into a somewhat stable black vortex of miasma and darkness, crackling with raw energy and pulsating with the foul signature of his own power. "If it is your manifestation who is to be the key to all of this...then I shall ascertain your capabilities in person...should your manifestation follow the same foolish logic as yourself... "

For a moment, the monstrous abomination halted his words, letting out a dry, hollow chuckle. "In that case I believe that there is no use in supporting this venture of yours."

Turning around, with a wave of his hand, the Lord of Hunger cut off the connection with the shadowy figure of Onrai herself, utterly dismissing her without giving her the courtesy of countering his words. She had been quite clear and quite concise with her words, now it was time for her manifestation to answer to him for its original's lack of insight. In the blink of an eye, the Lord of Hunger vanished within the swirling vortex of energy and darkness, as behind Marlon Sularen a vortex of the same size and foul appearance started to form, allowing the monster to appear in person before the group of people that had gathered.

"Although do tell Onrai, what is this Project of yours. I'm quite curious as to know what exactly will 'save' me should the Alliance 'tightens the rope' around my Fleet to harshly"

"That which will save you...my dear Lord Regent Sularen, is me..." Appearing out of the vortex, like a writhing wraith, the Lord of Hunger's aura immediately started to spread, the feeling of unease made quite apparent and the very pressure of his hunger manifesting in a dark fog following him out of the collapsing vortex of energy. "The alliance will do nothing, it is too consumed with its desire to go toe to toe with the Sith Order, as you said... you are by no fault of your own, an inconsequential fly in their ointment at this point in time. However, should their war change, should their eyes turn towards you...there are ways in which I can...make you disappear from their radar..."

 

[Onrai]

Marlon Sularen Darth Moskvin Saltare Dothon Box Mattox The Lord of Hunger

"Fair, but they might simply view cleaning up whatever mess you manage to make in the region as preferable to directly engaging with you - and they have the resources to do so, with damage control in their faction effectively being on autopilot. And even then, as much as people would rather wave the gnat away, if it becomes too bothersome, they will end up using harsher measures against it." Vanessa's doubts were primarily focused on a belief the Alliance would readily recover from whatever injury Sully would inflict on it, a series of small cuts that would heal up far too quickly for the wounds to be exploited, even if their scars survived.

"What will save you is a means of quickly getting out of the Deep Core." She said. "I am, to my knowledge, the only member of the Empire to possess a luxury beyond all compare: the ability to build a functional hypergate. Without the prototype backdoored into the Tython hypergate, the Imperial ground forces on Tython would not have been able to survive mostly unscathed with their equipment.

"The project I propose is simple: the construction of a hypergate within a large asteroid in the Deep Core, linked to a similar gate elsewhere in former Imperial territory. In the event your positions crumble, you can rejoin my forces and escape GA influence without putting yourself at undue risk by running the inevitable blockade. Since the hypergate will be a peer-to-peer system opened from our end, once we deactivate it, it'll be impossible for the Alliance to follow you. As a plus, this will also allow us to keep your fleet resupplied and repaired, forcing the Alliance to waste countless time trying to find a resupply base that doesn't exist."

She looked at him, observing some of the sarcasm in his tone. "Don't doubt me on this." She reiterated. "If it saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of loyal Imperials, it will save your life as well."

-

"Refuse?"

Onrai cocked her head. "I am more than willing to work with you, Credius. I even accepted your offer to build storage facilities in this system and offered you compensation for such. What is this 'ignoring' of your offer you speak of?" She was confused by the Sith Lord's comments in question, before he cut the transmission off - and appeared elsewhere. Somewhat frustrated, Onrai decided to take a trip - perhaps she would wait for him.

At least, when he returned.

-

"I was expecting you." Vanessa said to Credius as she withdrew a datapad from her robes. "The storage facilities and a tentative contractual agreement." She said, offering him the datapad and willfully remaining ignorant to the decorum which the Sith had ignored in closing his conversation with Onrai. He then mentioned something regarding his solution to saving the fallen Admiral from the predations of the Galactic Alliance should such a thing become what to her appeared an inevitability - evidently, he was unaware of what Vanessa had previously put forward.

"That is quite an enigmatic statement - it's best, however, if we instead work together to prepare for the future, and focus on the things that will enable us to do so - the arrangements between the Enigma and N&Z to further develop infrastructure in Ord Mantell and beyond will be a substantial boon - as will ensuring Sully's fleet can receive the necessary supplies and transit method to maintain their threat posture." Vanessa sought to remain explicitly positive and continue pursuing a unifying front within the Enigma - antagonism was unnecessary in these trying times.

 

[Marlon Sularen]

C A S E_C A N O P I C

EMPIRE REBORN
ORD MANTELL, DEEP CORE

Onrai explained her supposed project, the construction of a hypergate within the Deep Core which would enable Sularen's Forces in the Deep Core to be easily resupply and repair after engagements. It would certainly be helpful in the coming Campaign and it seemed that her project would have little flaws. Plus with the vastness of the Deep Core and how hard it was to navigate through it, it would be difficult for the Galactic Alliance to exactly pinpoint the location of such a hypergate which might even enable Sularen to continue his campaign in the Deep Core longer then he had originally planned.

"I don't doubt you on this, Onrai. A Secret hidden Deep Core Hypergate would actually further facilitate my planned campaign and allow me to launch more strikes then i intended, not to mention further extend the operational range of my Fleet within the Deep Core." Sularen answered. "With the vastness of space and how hard it is to even travel in the Deep Core it would already be difficult for the Alliance to discover the location of such a hypergate without exhausting significant resources, which given the turmoil in the Hapes Clusters, and their conflicts against the Sith Order and Neo-Crusaders would only leave them even more vulnerable."

Then Credius stepped up, also offering his potential assistance to the former Lord-Regent should his planned campaign in the Deep Core go south. His message was rather a bit ominous but considering his brief contributions to the Dark Empire, Sularen trusted him enough on his assurances this time despite their rough history decades ago. However Sularen had gained everything he needed for now, with Onrai and Credius already offering their aid, his campaign might go more smoothly even with the delays.

Tags | Onrai | The Lord of Hunger ​

 

[The Lord of Hunger]

LOCATION: Ord Mantell
OBJECTIVE: To oversee the creation of The Enigma
IMPORTANT LINKS: Sword | Armor | Jewel | Ring | Necklace | DIII Gluttoneria | The guards | The Enforcer
TAG: Onrai | Darth Moskvin | Darth Callidus | Darth Imperius | Marlon Sularen | Box Mattox | Saltare Dothon

Waving his hand, Credius clearly motioned that it was fine, dealing with Vanessa and thus by extension had become less of an emergency now that he had to hear the plans or at least the desires from the Lord Regent, plans and desires he vehemently denied on the grounds of the utter insanity.

"I'd have to put a moratorium on such ludicrous ideas, my dear Marlon Sularen ," The Lord of Hunger's eyes squinted, yet the vibrancy within those golden and crimson orbs only increased, so too did the very unease and chill he began to seep out. With his hand slowly raising as he walked around a bit in order to position himself alongside both of the actors in this farce, while keeping his eyes on Darth Moskvin . "No...there will be no actions in the core, not immediately and not of any significant magnitude."

Reaching for the Lord-Regent's pristine uniform, the electrum detailed tips of the abomination's fingertips gently pressed upon Marlon's plaque, while the monstrous man moved a bit closer to the Lord Regent, his masked face only a few inches away from Sularen's own.

"I did say I will guarantee your safety from any reprisals and actions...I will not defend you when you actively go aggrevating this titan," Clenching his hand into a fist, he pointed towards Onrai with his free hand. "We must gather the forces that remain, move the assets that can be moved, reinvigorate the strength of the navy and military, but such things can not be done in relative peace and calm, when you invite chaos. Ord Mantell is only temporarily, for it too shall be abandoned once SHE is ready to do so, I urge you to muster your own forces, plan a tactical retreat and open up our backchannels for industrial input under regulation. Lose this fixation on the core...for as long as you can not surrender this pipedream, you jeopardize the future of what has yet to come from this new establishment."

 

[Onrai]

The Lord of Hunger Darth Moskvin Darth Callidus Darth Imperius Marlon Sularen Box Mattox Saltare Dothon

"Give me a location and we can get started using whatever remaining resources you have in the Core. All we need for that gate is for it to receive the hyperspace vortex from the gate on the Ord Mantell side, so it can be... less complex." She said. Within the greater consciousness of Onrai, she pondered over what exactly would be the identity she would need to use within the Regent's remaining assets in order to get such a device constructed.

This wasn't going to be easy.

As Credius surprisingly argued in the former governor's favor - albeit with the caveat of an eventual retreat from Ord Mantell - Vanessa gave a soft smile. "The admiral is admittedly under no compulsion to join the Enigma and work towards a new future for the eventual reborn Empire, but you do raise excellent points. Sully is, however, a very mulish man - if he's dead set on a guerrilla campaign in the Deep Core, the only thing I can rationally do is ensure the Enigma benefits. And of course, that he retains the ability to join through escaping the region if he wishes."

 

[The Lord of Hunger]

LOCATION: Ord Mantell
OBJECTIVE: To oversee the creation of The Enigma
IMPORTANT LINKS: Sword | Armor | Jewel | Ring | Necklace | DIII Gluttoneria | The guards | The Enforcer
TAG: Onrai | Darth Moskvin | Darth Callidus | Darth Imperius | Marlon Sularen | Box Mattox | Saltare Dothon

Tilting his head a bit, the Lord of Hunger seemed to calm down a bit, his earlier anger concerning Onrai's rather foolish ideas began to turn into a better understanding of the logic behind the decisions the strange being made. However, he did hope that with all this logic she purported to be in possession of, that she would understand that Ord Mantell as He had mentioned, was far from a good spring board for any future campaigns.

"Enigma is yours, you do with it as you see fit," Credius remarked, shifting his weight a bit to take on a more comfortable pose, resting his left hand against his side, as he motioned with his left hand towards Darth Moskvin . "Can I assume that given your proclivities, you would understand the need for a move towards the outer regions of the galaxy?"

Turning his attention to the two warlords, the Lord of Hunger let out a sigh. "Whether you wish to continue campaigning in a guerilla war against the Galactic Alliance or you want to set up a strong foundation for your own needs. This is more likely to have favorable results outside of the current sphere of influence."

Reaching for his datapad, the monstrous man tapped a few times on the screen, before a small, holographic display would show the current cluster of planetary systems which had been part of the Dark Empire prior to its collapse. It showed the encroaching Diarchy, the strengthened Galactic Alliance's lines and the Neo Crusader Mandalorians creeping up on the former territory. "To amass enough strength to retaliate and to regain your ability to truly blitz the enemy, you need resources, you need safety and more importantly discretion. If we locate ourselves outside of the spheres of influence of the enemy...we can bide our time, recover, restrengthen and reeducate. Ord Mantell may be your home, but it is too close to the aforementioned governments to not fall in one of their hands at some point. Take what you have, strip what you do not need and move... move to the outer regions, where the Empire can regrow, restructure and reposition itself."

Nodding towards the former Lord Regent, Credius let out a deep sigh. "You wish to continue a war while you do not have the resources to continue such an act. Marlon, if you are even half as brilliant a strategist you claim to be, would it not be in your best interest you review the options as they are brought before you and to properly evaluate the best course of action with consideration to your resources, your allies and their resources?"