Faction &nbsp; The Hunt for the Dark Empress [Part I]

Coren Starchaser · Jan 23, 2022

At least his team had a lead. He had to sully himself and pretend to be Cotan, but well, y'know, aside from not being a real Jedi, Cotan was one of his inner circle, and a real close friend. There were worst people for him to be. But they had a location and a path now. What the trick was, was he needed to get there.

If the Pomojema took off from here? He may be able to help track it, space travel was sort of his thing. Maybe not to the level of Jorus but well, he still knew what he was doing. As they'd gotten aboard their own ship, he was listening and fulfilling his role to get them moving.

"It may not just be the Sith she's running from…" What gave him that idea, he figured was the Force. "Moving the people may be hard, may be that we need to be a scalpel, not a hammer." He stated as they made their moves.

As they kept prepping for the move, he felt it.

"There is something out there…" Something ancient.

Wyatt Morga |

Romi Jade |

Julius Sedaire |

Valery Noble | @Alyson Locke

Arcane Syn NPCs · Jan 23, 2022

Crusader Observation Post, Athiss

Response to Kesh Theater

Orders received, dispatching a response force immediately, my Lady.

The observation outpost on Athiss didn't have too much in way of forces, it was designed more to watch the continued incursion of the Ashlan Crusade into the Caldera and report its findings back to their Mistress and the Dark Council. But it did have a few forces that were there to protect the observation post and to rapidly respond if information their Mistress deemed actionable came through their post.

Orders would be relayed to the commander in charge of the small flotilla in orbit, and with three blips of blue light, three ships left the patrol within minutes of receiving their orders.

Svolten System

Athiss being the next major Sith world on the hyperlane, it didn't take very long for the single Agrias-class frigate and its two accompanying Anubys corvettes to arrive at the edge of the system and started moving in system towards the planet. Captain Lydia Golgary, a Mikkian female, stood on the bridge of the Agrias as her crews began preparing for whatever was going on down below.

"Have pilots go to ready stations for launch," she ordered before turning to an open communications line to the planet rapidly approaching. For anyone able to listen or respond, they would hear her say, "This is Captain Golgary of the Gabranth. We received a distress call. What is the situation and how can we help?"

Even as she spoke, two teams of three Ravenscar Adepts were preparing for their own specimen retrieval or extraction mission. They merely were awaiting word from the captain of where they needed to deploy to.

Tydeus of Tion will tag others once/if they arrive in system.

Tydeus of Tion · Jan 24, 2022

The new group integrated Korr and his gunslinging companion without blinking. They were clearly some sort of Darksider, and the presence of one felt… familiar? But Ryan did not have time.

When it came between monsters that would consume every living thing and beings who lived their life in the darker shades of moral gray, there was no choice at all.

Kill the Drengir now.

Philosophize later.

Slash. Burn. Sprint.

Repeat.

In this manner, they made it within reach of the speeder, with Korr somewhat worse for the wear sporting a scratch across the cheek and bruises across his arms from slapping vines.

But he was alive.

Reaching out a hand, he concentrated for a brief second, then released a concussive burst of energy that ripped through the Force, flinging Drengir away from the speeder.

“Hurry,” Korr said, voice tight, teeth clenched.

Ashin Cardé Varanin · Jan 24, 2022

Ashin was not a particularly skilled pilot nor high-speed driver. She took the controls regardless. A heartbeat after

Valik ,

Cord ,

Avalore , and

Tydeus of Tion piled in, she threw full power to the repulsors.

After repeated Drengir incidents she knew what she liked in a vehicle. In this case that meant an airspeeder, not a landspeeder. The vehicle rose at a steep angle to a fifty-meter altitude that even the biggest Drengir dogpiles couldn't reach.

The height offered a clear view of the situation. Nighthunter Port would never be the same. Just outside town, the Pomojema was still grounded. Drengir had overrun the perimeter from below and around. They tore at the hatches and cargo doors, and had succeeded in prying some open. Red lightsabers and snapping root-vines warred at a couple of breached doorways.

The mobile academy of higher learning held dozens of Darksiders, virtually all the equivalent of Sith Knights or Lords. The Drengir had comparable strength in the dark side in their way, and they'd brought hundreds of Drengir and thralls alike. For the moment, the defenders held. For the moment, Spencer was probably safe — but only for the moment.

Despite her visceral need to go straight to her wife, Ashin brought the speeder to rest on a high ridge overlooking the ruined town. The ridge held locked-down rhyolite mines where a few locals had taken shelter: so far, the Drengir didn't care about those stray morsels. That state of affairs couldn't last. Already the Drengir were starting to shift down there, coming this way. They'd cover the uphill kilometer-ish in a handful of minutes at most.

"You're welcome to take the speeder, any or all of you," she said as she removed a large sniper rifle from the cargo compartment. "The more targets they have, the more distractions, the better for everyone." A bleak smile crossed her face. "You've all proven effective at pissing them off."

The dark side swelled around her, cold and hard, a beacon of sorts. The rifle was Ordo's old MX-1 omni-ammunition rail cannon. She slotted in a clip of steel-clad kyber crystals the size of a middle finger.

"Oh, and I don't recommend going back into town."

Avalore · Jan 26, 2022

Avalore spilled into the dirt, her heart racing painfully fast inside her chest. She hated fire, she hated drengir, and above all she hated Ashin for causing this. This-- a life on the run. It was panning out to be not her thing.

She came to woman's side at the weapon's compartment anyway and yanked off the mask and cloak. They were interesting, but they would only get in her way. Drengir didn't need to see her face to recognize her.

She rummaged and pulled out... an alchemized flame thrower? She rose a brow but said nothing, her complexion already pale and calmy from her work in the market. What she wanted was a nap, she would have to settle for testing out this new weapon instead.

She cocked it and shot upwards, green flames roaring 10, 20 feet overhead?

...It would do.

Her gaze panned out towards the hoard moving their way-- a wave of bark and vine. She could feel its hunger from here.

"I have a bad feeling about this," she told Ashin, her voice a low hum.

Tydeus of Tion · Jan 26, 2022

Eyes like sharpened iron - stern, gray, and unyielding - looked between the sniper and the flamethrower bearer.

“I see.”

Still, he felt it in the Force. This group was where he should be.

“There’s strength in numbers. I’ll stick with you until I find a way off planet.”

He made no mention of the Stealth X that got him there in the first place.

Cord · Jan 27, 2022

Cord watched the environment as Ashin and Avalore pulled out some heavy duty equipment for the fight with the Drengir. He didn't recognize the rifle, but Cord was a lot smarter than he typically let on. He recognized it was a modular mag rail design, probably of mandalorian or Verpine origin. A beauty.

"I can play spotter if you need." Cord said to

Ashin Cardé Varanin . "Or maintain perimeter if you don't." He continued. He didn't typically bring a rifle unless he was a hunt or expected trouble. His pistols normally were enough, though he was regretting the choice not to bring a rifle today. He suspected the woman didn't with the power a meter long shatter gun probably had, and her special choice of ammunition.

Valik · Jan 27, 2022

Valik was surprised at Ashin's choice of locale. He had expected to go to her ship, and was somewhat excited at the prospects of seeing his new students in action without them explicitly being aware of his role. No brave faces, no trying to earn extra credit, just pure evaluation in a desperate situation. He was considering going to see them anyway, but after everyone else made their decision to stay Valik's pride wouldn't let him be the odd man out.

"I'll work on poisoning the ground." Valik said. He pulled out some more odds and ends from his pack and began mixing them together. He didn't think he could stop a Drengir from charging at them, but perhaps he could take away the tunnel underneath.

Ashin Cardé Varanin · Jan 27, 2022

"Do as you will," Ashin said, resting the MX-1 on the speeder's hood. She dialed down the rail rifle's muzzle velocity somewhat, both to avoid shattering the crystal spike ammunition and because she didn't have the time to dig out and equip her shock-absorbing shoulder rig. She ignored

Cord 's offer to be her spotter.

Largely because, at this particular moment, she wasn't interested in shooting the Drengir.

The rail rifle barked three times — just the crystal spikes going supersonic. The stock hammered her shoulder. A trio of spikes thunked into the ground and kicked up plumes of reddish-gray dirt. The three impact points formed a triangle pattern that started half a kilometer away from Ashin's position. The imaginary triangle embraced half the eviscerated town and most of the oncoming Drengir wave.

"The Drengir have only one weakness," she said absently. "They know exactly what they want, and they'll do anything to get it. It's what makes them perfect."

She dialed the muzzle velocity all the way down and lobbed a fourth crystal in a slow arc above it, forming — for a handful of precious seconds, at least — a rough tetrahedron a few hundred meters to a side. The dark side roared up cold and hungry. She closed her eyes, ignoring all the risks and variables near at hand.

Even with the crystals to delineate and target her work, even with forty years' practice, a Force Storm was the opposite of easy.

The tetrahedron went from imaginary pattern to a three-sided pyramid of sizzling distortion, a raw void that chewed up everything inside and spat it across hyperspace. The other end of the gnawing rift might be anywhere within a few light-years: Ashin wasn't particularly fussed about that. What mattered was grabbing the bulk of the oncoming force and throwing it irrevocably elsewhere.

The arcing crystal fell out of even rough alignment within seconds. The precise tetrahedron collapsed into a shapeless ground-level rift perhaps a hundred meters across, right at the edge of what had been Nighthunter Port. Ashin stumbled against the speeder. The rifle slid from her hands and hit the ground.

Dozens of Drengir were still coming straight up the hill: the plantforms too fast to get caught in the brief Force Storm. Cord,

Avalore ,

Valik , and

Tydeus of Tion had their work cut out for them...or a convenient escape vehicle should they opt to run. Ashin was in no shape to weigh in on either possibility.

Cord · Jan 27, 2022

Watching

Ashin Cardé Varanin forcibly open a wormhole with the Force was without a doubt the most absurd show of strength Cord had ever witnessed. Which for most of his life wasn't saying much, but he had just seen a Jedi throw force light out to a Drengir perhaps fifteen minutes ago. If the scale of strength continued to increase there would be a third Akala crisis within the hour.

Cord picked up the dropped rifle and looked it over. Still had a few of those steel-wrapped kyber crystals in the magazine. Cord typically preferred a lever action to a sniper rifle, but these were extraordinary circumstances. He put the stock of MX-1 to his shoulder and trained it on the dozens of Drengir headed to their location. The gunslinger put his eye to the scope and addressed the robe

Tydeus of Tion .

"If I put a charge on the next few shots, can you use it as a focus for that Force Light you used earlier?" Cord asked, his tone with a seriousness that was missing from his interactions earlier.

"They're somewhat concentrated in their approach. We may be able to nuke the lot of them and then just deal with stragglers." Cord replied, carefully training the scope on his target. There wasn't time to make a decision. Even if his plan worked, it would probably be pretty draining on the robe. The stragglers would have to be picked up by Cord,

Avalore , and the old man he didn't know.

Hopefully that would be enough.

Arcane Syn NPCs · Jan 27, 2022

Svolten System, nearing orbit near Nighthunter Port

"Nighthunter Port, this is Captain Golgary. Please response. What is the situation down there?" she repeated, and silence was the only reply the Mikkian captain received from whatever form of traffic control the port had. Her teeth clicked in annoyance, her head tendrils swiveling in a way most Mikkians could not do. "Sensors?"

"We're picking up massive amounts of lifeforms in the vicinity of the town, and in a few locations outside the town," her sensor officer answered, coming over to her station with a datapad. "And there is this, Captain." She accepted the datapad to see the readings from her ship's scanners. She stood up straighter, her expression flickering and her head tendrils moving rapidly.

"Launch squadrons for recon in force flights, they have permission to engage ground targets threatening Objective A," she ordered immediately for her general crew. To her sensor officer, she added, "Send this information immediately to Lady Arcanix... and a request for BDZ authorization."

While her frigate and two corvettes didn't have the raw firepower of a Star Destroyer, there was a reason her frigate and corvettes had weapons mounted underneath. They could do plenty of damage once orders came from her Mistress. In the meantime, two squadrons of IX-11 Aeros Starfighters and a squadron of Scurrg H-9 Bombers launched from her ships and started streaking down into the atmosphere towards the slaughter zone that was the port.

For those on the ground, if they were perceptive enough or if the Pomojema had its sensors online and manned, they would be able to detect the ships now in orbit over the zone and the sonic booms as three squadrons of attack craft broke atmosphere.

Tydeus of Tion · Jan 29, 2022

Features tightened. Jaw set.

Not many people could summon a Force storm like that. Not many people at all. And that presence? It felt familiar. He’d known this woman once, he was sure of it.

Korr’s gaze turned to the gunslinger, then to the oncoming horde.

“I can.”

When what he really meant was he could try. But as an ancient Jedi once said, Do or Do Not, there is no Try.

Avalore · Jan 29, 2022

Force light. The quickly spoken words passed by, almost unnoticed by the girl in the chaos that surrounded them. Ashin fell, the force storm subsided, and Avalore grimly braced the weapon at her hip.

Ryan Korr said:
“I can.”

The meaning struck Avalore like a bell. There was no time to consider or ask questions. Avalore had learned about the concept in a book and if the report was anything to go off of...

This was going to hurt. Fascinatingly... it might also work.

Avalore ripped a pendant off her neck, her eyes catching

Valik as she did so. He might recognize it for what it was but he wouldn't be left guessing. She threw her emergency vial at Ashin's crouched form, a thick cloud of alchemized darkness encasing the weakened woman. In enclosed quarters it would have bought Ashin the chance to escape but out in the open Avalore could only hope that it would buffer the offending light. It was all conjecture by this point. Avalore was learning as she went.

She needed Ashin standing.

"Bee hive. Stick." She grumbled cryptically, the flamethrower raised as the first the drengir crested their sight line. She gritted her teeth and encased it with a wave of green flames.

It was her last line of defense.

Ashin Cardé Varanin · Jan 29, 2022

Avalore's strength wrapped around Ashin as she straightened from her crouch. The physical weakness wasn't the issue: the main problem was the fog that rolled through her mind when she over-exerted herself. Defending a group from a close-quarters Drengir assault had been hard enough; throw in the Force Storm and burnout beckoned.

She doubted she could lift a rock with the Force right now. And while she had no intention of revealing that degree of weakness to anyone present, they would certainly realize it was a possibility.

She'd judged that risk an acceptable cost for wiping out the bulk of Nighthunter Port's Drengir infestation.

Since

Cord had her rifle and a plan, Ashin got out her Khovesk mace again. The port's surviving Drengir would reach this position in a minute or less. She heard aircraft or spacecraft above the roiling clouds; if they meant to help, they had limited time. Or maybe they just liked a show.

"Don't empower the crystals yourself, Cord," she said. "Focus on aim, let Master Korr here light the crystals up." She'd remembered him at last, from a time long ago when they'd been Jedi Knights together. "If your dark-side work's in there before his light, the crystals might crack when he does his part." A shrug. "Then again, maybe a Force Light shotgun is what you're after. If so, most of the barrel comes off."

Being this close to Force Light was going to hurt. But hey, that gave Ashin's exhaustion a silver lining. Not a lot of dark-side energy to burn out of her, even if he happened to direct the Light her way.

By accident or something.

Valik · Jan 29, 2022

Force Light.

Valik clenched his jaw. That was going to hurt. But at the same time, Valik didn't have a better idea.

"I'll mark the crystals " Valik replied. "Pop the magazine." He commanded. The Gunslinger did so, and Valik put his hands to the magazine. He focused the Force into the crystals for about fifteen seconds, bending them to his will. Afterwards the crystals would have a very distinct and dark presence in the force. Valik hoped to make a series of beacons for

Tydeus of Tion .

"Fire when ready." Valik said, backing away from the gunslinger and the robe.

Cord · Jan 29, 2022

The old man was an alchemist it seemed, and from the quickness of his work an unusual one. Regardless he could feel the crystals having a very trackable presence in the Force. He wasn't sure if they'd work in the sea of force sensitive Drengir, but it was a whole lot better than nothing.

Cord pushed out a breath and held his lungs in place, eliminating one source of variance. Cord moved the rifle to the quartet of positions, lining up each shot before returning to the first position. Cord fired once, twice, thrice, and a fourth shot, as quickly as the MX-1 could muster. His shots, while not crafting a perfect tetrahedron, created something close enough with some small angle approximations.

His shoulder felt like absolute hell. How did that old woman do it just minutes prior?

Ashin Cardé Varanin · Jan 29, 2022

Cord said:
His shoulder felt like absolute hell. How did that old woman do it just minutes prior?

"Oh," Ashin added belatedly, cursing her exhausted brain but also a little amused, "and you might want to dial down the muzzle velocity like I did."

One of the benefits of using a quality railgun: if you knew what you were doing, you could adjust firepower as needed, independent of the ammunition involved. A basic railgun was just electromagnets or similar electronic propulsion, after all, and though the beautiful old MX-1 was far from basic, the same principles applied. In her Mesinis'kaita body, without digging her anticoncussion shoulder rig out of the speeder's cargo compartments, dialing the velocity and recoil down was a matter of survival.

The MX-1, this MX-1, was Ashin's favorite sniper rifle for over thirty years at this point. She'd bought it from

Ordo , the closest thing to a father figure she'd had in the better part of a century. The MX-1 had been her primary weapon when rescuing Spencer from the One Sith at Selvaris. It had saved Ashin's life in a tense sniper duel at the invasion of Prakith. She'd carried it as Watchman of Korriban. Among her substantial collection of sniper rifles, the scarred old MX-1 sat front and centre.

She very much hoped Cord didn't break it.

Tydeus of Tion · Jan 31, 2022

Ryan closed his eyes and focused within, letting all else fade away.

His resentment.

His fear.

His hope for things that might have been.

Only the Force existed, an ocean of energy that spread out in all directions, connecting every living thing. He both floated in it and was part of it.

He extended a hand.

The Force poured outward in a physical manifestation, a stream of pure light that shot outward and struck the first crystal, then blossomed outward from the crystal's center into a hundred miniature fractal beams of white. They formed a latticework between the other crystals and for a moment time seemed to stand still - dozens upon dozens of Drengir charging through the midst like an akk dog blundering through a monofilament wire trap.

Then there was a brilliant flash, a blast of purging energy in the Force, an intense heat, and a detonation like an artillery strike as all four kyber crystals exploded.

Korr went flying, back slamming into the speeder, and he sank down to the ground.

In the area where the tetrahedron had been... smoke and char and drengir pieces.

"Oops."

Not exactly as intended, Korr thought as he tried to stand up only for a shooting pain to lance up through his back. Had he burst a disc?

Cord |

Valik |

Avalore |