Invasion The Ossus Massacre │ SE Invasion of SJC held Jomark & Nespis VIII

[Other Space Kaiden]

The Inferno
Warrior's Skin
Objective: III
(The Shadow Realm Jimbo)

The platform vanished in a blur of speed, the warlord's entire world eclipsed in darkness for only the briefest of moments before he felt the crash. As if he'd circled whatever twisted globe he now inhabited, Vulcanus had disappeared into the inky black only to find himself flying back towards it from the opposite direction. Bones splintered and tendons snapped as he slammed into the platform, body tumbling past Hord and Sanem before falling from the edge once again. Just as before he seemed to plummet for only a brief moment before slamming back into the platform, this time falling straight down into the center of the arena.

Vulcanus groaned. The beast could feel spears of bone piercing through his skin. Slowly he looked up, his blurry vision barely able to make out the immaterial blobs of Sanem and Hord standing above him. The beast slurred nonsensical Graug speak at the two of them, shards of teeth falling from his mouth alongside the freefall of black blood. Hord laughed and his hand twitched once more. Vulcanus found himself thrown to his feet. The beast stumbled backwards and nearly fell over, just managing not to fall back flat as he looked himself over.

"If you are so powerful and so all knowing" Sanem scolded, "then heal your shattered body. Resurrect yourself as The Lord of Hate has, prove yourself the god you so claim to be."

Vulcanus slurred something unintelligible once more, steam rising from his wounds as the skin cauterized itself - leaving ribs jutting through his hide and bones shattered in his arm. Sanem scoffed, "pathetic. A single attack from the Lord of Hate has ruined your body and all you can manage is to stunt the bleeding. You are nothing but a God of Delusion, a worm in the shadow of greater Sith.

"Every defeat you suffer is not a lesson learned or a weakness conquered - it is a cancer eating away whatever power you could attain. You do not conquer defeat, you hide away in the shadows of yourself in hopes that it will never again show its head."

Enough. Vulcanus' loose jaw dangled from his skull as he swung wide at Sanem. There was a crack, a hiss and then a cylinder of red light. The beast roared in agony as Hord's saber passed through his arm and sent it spiraling into the darkness - leaving only a smoking nub behind. The saber flashed through the air, came back down and then Vulcanus' leg was replaced by smoking remains as well. The Graug warlord plummeted to the ground, catching himself on single knee and hand as the pain poured from him in deep, roaring groans.

Sanem leered over the beast with glowing eyes, "even your victories haunt you don't they. You can't stand to it, the loss of your eye. Oh and this moment" the apparition drank in the raw emotions, "yes the Jedi that took your arm and leg...one of them was merely a padawaan...so pathetic you are."

There were no words said between them, but Sanem could feel the beast's mind banishing the thoughts. "No!" Sanem commanded, "stew in your pathetic loss. In your weakness. Time again your enemies elude you. Defeat you. You waste your mind and this is why they will always defeat you. You have studied the tomes and learned nothing. Watched the holocrons and learned nothing. Accept your defeat. Accept your loss. Accept what you are, Vulcanus, and let the Darkside free you"

"Break your chains..."

Vulcanus whimpered beneath the two Master Sith, finding a reflection in this pain that he had never once experienced in his life. He could see it all so vividly. The battle with Teferi on Korriban. The defeat of his hordes by The Republic. The madness and confusion as his mind broke after the fall of The Empire. The battle with the Jedi in the Unknown regions where he lost his arm and leg. The Atrisian ritual and the twenty year prison he was held in the netherworld...his resurrection and the chain The Shaper had placed on him.

All of it defeat after defeat. Why? He was Graug...he was destined to rule-

"Destiny is a lie, a tool of control by The Force. A Sith seeks not to fulfill a prophecy, a Sith seeks to divert it - to change the course of time in anyway we choose. If the lightside is a river than the darkside is the dam. Countless beings in this galaxy submit themselves to 'destiny' and the Jedi themselves submit themselves to prophecy. The Force will do anything it can to ensure its prophecies and destiny's are fulfilled. Sith like Vader? Maul? They were slaves to prophecy and destiny just as you have been."

Vulcanus' good eye went wide, his mind spinning with the possibility. Why did it make sense? The Jedi spoke always of destiny. Prophecy...yet he himself never questioned it from The Empire, from his own people...Sanem himself had just told him the truth of his visions. It was control. Sedation of his will.

"The Force wants you to call yourself a God. To repeat your mistakes" Sanem spoke in a voice like that of a shadow, "it is your destiny to live like a god and die like a mortal"

Hord's lightsaber rose high in the air, the crimson light cast upon Vulcanus' head as it was aimed, "your body has almost destroyed itself. The battle outside comes to a close. Will you take the discarded bones of the Sith before you and pave your path to greatness...or will The Force's destiny kill you once more?"

The blade fell. Time slowed. The world had changed. Vulcanus had been weak. He had been defeated time and again and never once did he reflect on it, never once did it make him stronger. Ages of Sith history had been at his finger tips and he had forsaken it. Vulcanus looked up the falling crimson blade and realized something...

...Everything was clear now. Sanem did not control this place. Hord did not control this place. The apparition had said so himself, this was his own mind. Sanem had done what The Force had done to him for his entire life - Sanem had placed himself into Vulcanus' own mind and convinced him that his truth was paramount.

Vulcanus' working arm shot upward and snatched Hord's arm in mid-air, the beast balancing himself on knee. This was his mind...Hord's power was here with him now and there was nothing to stop him from using it. No force. No destiny. No Sanem. Hord's arm snapped under The Graug's grip and the Lord of Hate howled...his power surged...but it was not his arm that healed.

This apparition was a conjuring of his own mind, a phantom created by it and the concoction he had been given. It held the secrets that The Worm had wished him to learn. Suddenly, tendons grew out from Vulcanus' smoking nubs until soon they were joined by bones that grew back into place out from his thigh and muscles that wrapped themselves around growing tissue. Before their eyes Vulcanus fed on Hord's own hate and healed his body - just like the ancient lord of old had so many thousands of years ago.

Sanem smirked. Hord pulled away.

Then Vulcanus summoned a fire in his gut and unleashed it onto the ancient Hord - vaporizing the spirit until only he and Sanem reamined...

 

[Cato Demora]

​

Objective II: Regicide
Allies: Alina Tremiru │ Grundark │ Irina Volkov │ Arcturus Dinn │ Melydia Gold
Enemies: Vexander Graves │ Mathieu Brion │ Vulpesen │ Taiia Locke │ Caedyn Arenais │ Romi Jade │ Starlin Rand │ Maja Fiore │ Nathaniel Wellchoestor

​

The First Legion​

​

Syd seemed to have shove Reaper off of her - forcing him to recollect himself as pipes struck out at them again. While it was an unconventional strike - the Praetorian's augementations made them able to avoid most, and break free of the others with muscles many times stronger and more dense than their more conventional counterparts. The First Legion were dedicated Jedi Killers - designed specifically to counter the Force despite it all.​

​

Reaper himself pulled his own side arm and did the same as Cato - firing void stone verpine rounds directly at Syd before twisting it back around and firing another two shots at an approaching Jedi Knight. The others, however, were quickly getting overwhelmed despite their numbers.​

​

Cato glanced to them for a moment just as Pillar had a blade slam through his stomach - and the expression of relief on the Jedi's face. The First Legion Captain resisted calling out to him as he shot another few rounds at others approaching him - but when he looked back he watching as Pillar gripped the Jedi by the neck and began to pound ferociously. He cringed as blood began to splurt from the Jedi's face - but knew that it was all the energy he had left before the lightsaber strike would force him to the ground.​

​

"Regroup!", the death trooper vocoder roared as the troops still standing began to move to a tighter, more back to back position. Reinforcements were not far off - but they weren't here yet, so it couldn't stay on his mind. Disruptor shots fired again and again as the air itself began to run hot from the amount of blaster bolts and spent tibanna gas filling it - but through it all he could see the Jedi running.​

​

Feel the fear in their face. He couldn't feel the ritual's effects, but he could tell it was having an effect - weakening them, forcing doubt into their mind. It was exactly what they needed.​

​

"Get ready, Kingmakers, Jedi are falling into the Temple.", he said, and one of the others nodded.​

​

If they went deeper into the temple, then they'd stay in its depths until the Worm could arrive to settle this once and for all. A bomb was quietly armed with a touch on the back of the soldiers waist - and it initated the initial chemical reactions to turn itself into a far more potent weapon.​

 

[Jorii Vizsla]

Objective: 1
Location: Underground bunker, halls
Equipment:

• Beskar'gam
• Beskad
• Tomahawk
• Mandalorian ripper (pistol variant)
• Blaster rifle

Allies: Soloman Priest
Enemies: Yula Perl | Kyra Perl

This was taking too long.

The gunshot echoed down the halls, setting her instantly more on edge. There went any semblance of stealth they had left, and she was almost certain she saw the downed one move. Wonderful.

Sighing loudly enough that he could hear, she reconsidered their options. It made sense to have hostages, he had that right, but bickering back and forth with a Jedi for all of twenty minutes about the finer points of it all wasn't how that worked. Someone needed to take charge of the situation, and if he didn't have the stones to do it then she would. If anything was exemplary of the centuries long rift that had always divided their people, this was it. Some things never changed.

The aim of her ripper shifted and in the same motion she pulled the trigger, her target the droid as opposed to the Jedi before them. It removed one less unknown variable for the equation, and she didn't trust the thing to lead them out of a trash heap, let alone a base with enemy combatants. It was just as likely to lead them into a trap as it was an exit, and she wasn't a believer in taking unnecessary risks, contrary to what others might be inclined to believe.

Jorii holstered her pistol, reaching back for her blaster and dialing down the stun setting - if he wanted the Jedi to talk them out of here, that was his prerogative, but she wanted to keep them moving. With the same fluidity she'd demonstrated in shooting the droid, she sent two more stun rounds into the pair of Zeltrons before them.

Looking to Soloman, he would be able to feel the sharp coldness of her glare from beneath her T-visor. "You talk too much."

 

[Starlin Rand]

Objective II: Regicide
Location: Ossus Temple Courtyard
Equipment: Armor | Lightsaber | Energy Bow | Bracelet

Starlin was distracted by the telepathic message from Syd urging him to reach out to Thesh. The comet streaking across the sky and the acolyte’s abrupt panic disrupted this thoughtfulness, however. When Thesh grabbed his wrist and started dragging him away, Starlin was too bewildered to stop him. Rather amused, too. “You go from wanting to duel me to the death, to pulling me to safety? This hot and cold stuff is giving me whiplash, man!”

Not that he didn’t realize the urgency of their situation. A falling ship was on the verge of blowing up the Temple. With Thirdas running around telling the others, Starlin couldn’t do much. Syd, we’ve got a problem, he thought-speaked to his master, or at least tried to—he’d never really done much telepathy before. A big, starship-shaped problem about to fall on the planet, possibly on the Temple itself. I’m getting out of here while I still can.

As Thesh led him to a ship, Starlin didn’t protest. It was only after he was aboard the acolyte’s vessel that he realized his mistake. He was with a Sith, on what was presumably a Sith ship, leaving the planet in the midst of the chaos following a Sith invasion…

Just before the ramp sealed shut and the ship took off, a muffled cry of “Ah, chit!” could be heard from within.

Arcturus Dinn | Thirdas Heavenshield | Syd Celsius

//exit thread, ok I captured now I guess​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Starlin Rand did not fight him on it. In fact he seemed rather amused as the two of them fled from the Temple and headed toward his ship. Up the waiting boarding ramp, into the main bulk, Thesh was quick to head into the cockpit and get the damn thing moving. He hoped that Melydia Gold was on her way out of there too, but there wasn't time to check or grab her too. It was now or never.​

​

So he started up the vessel, and only came to realize what a truly strange situation they'd landed themselves in when his passenger cursed in dismay.​

​

A hundred thousand thoughts ran through his mind as the ship began to rise into the air, and their journey into the stars started. It hadn't been some underhanded plan to get the Padawan alone, to steal him away, but the pieces slotted together all the same. Much to his dismay.​

​

Once a course had been charted for Korriban, Thesh engaged the auto-pilot functions and then rose from his seat... No doubt his passenger was going to have much to say about this...​

​

// ET FIN //​

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

Tactical Retreat
Ossus Jedi Temple
​

He had to admit, he was feeling pretty darn good about stopping that pointless duel between Starlin Rand and Arcturus Dinn . Usually he'd be the one to escalate violence, skipping diplomacy in favour of a quick and decisive outcome. For once, he'd been the level-headed one defusing the situation, and... yeah, it felt pretty good.

There's something to all that Jedi stuff his parents tried to teach him as a boy after all.

The moment didn't last long, because of course it didn't.

"The what-now...?" Something big was falling from the skies, because of course it was.

Thesh tasked him with warning the others of the need to evacuate; an impossible task, considering there was still fighting going on in the courtyard and in the streets. There was no way for one man to reach every outpost, but he supposed he would have to do his best.

Before he turned to undertake his task, he bid farewell to the odd couple that was Jedi and Sith. "May the Force be with you. Both of you."

Gathering what weapons the fallen Sith had carried on them, Thirdas took off, heading back out to the courtyard. The fighting had moved on farther away, and so he was no longer constantly accosted by dark assassins every step of the way.

He ran across the grounds, back inside the temple to warn those inside. If there's anyone left to warn, that was.

 

[Syd Celsius]

Persona: Sorceress of Coruscant (See Bio)

The Sorceress barely managed to get the plate armor of a fallen Death Trooper up to block the bullets, forced to fall back as Caedyn Arenais warned her of the incoming starship.

"You're chitting me..." The elderly looking Force Spawn muttered as she fell back, her blade deflecting disruptor blasts off her and a greatly weakened Caedyn.

To top it off, she felt Starlin Rand being captured.

No...No...

The Sorceress felt dread, pure dread as she fell back. She had failed him, told him to try and save someone from themselves and he had gotten captured for it.

She would not rest, and in her distraught state it was getting very difficult to keep Syd from re-emerging to go after the transport. But she had a duty to this temple. A duty to try and protect as many as possible.

She called out to Caltin Vanagor to evacuate with them, meanwhile, she began chanting a powerful, dangerous spell, magic spreading invisibly from her body as her flesh shuddered grotesquely, violently like there were rats moving underneath.

A magical magnetic bubble began to form over the temple, channeled by her. It began to spread all over its perimeter. It couldn't hurt anybody. That wasn't its purpose.

Shrill, pig like metallic squeals of pain erupted from the bubbling Force Spawn as she painfully channeled the powerful magic.

Hopefully, if it worked, then when the ship crashed, and it would because even a Force Spawn as powerful as the Sorceress couldn't stop it, the bubble, while not actually stopping or even slowing it, would repel the metal of the ship as it got closer to the bubble and the temple, causing it to veer off a direct impact to the temple by a very slim margin, so that the impact might only kill what would be termed a "very large chunk of people" instead of "Practically Everyone"

Cato Demora

Darth Empyrean

Sakadi Marathi Sinvala

Other Space Kaiden

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Objective II: Defend the Ossus Jedi Temple
Inventory: Staff Lightsaber | Jedi robes
Allies: Syd Celsius , Caltin Vanagor & The Silver Jedi Concord
Opposition: Cato Demora

​

The floor shook underneath him as Caltin Vanagor 's arrival was accompanied by the Rancors in pursuit of him, Caedyn and Syd Celsius having been at the western entrance of the Ossus Temple, soon forced to turn and stare up in shock as the massive creature was thrown down against its side by the Jedi Master, echoing the younger Knights thoughts by shouting for them to move quickly.

Cato Demora and his Squad of elite troopers were forced back by the additional Jedi arriving on the scene, the great room getting far busier than it had been only minutes prior, yet also providing Caedyn and Syd with the chance they required to withdraw safely. Were it not for Caltin and Syd both, that slug that Caedyn had taken through the shoulder might have subsequently led to his death with his control over the Force repressed thanks to the void stone within.

Choosing not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Caedyn ran alongside the others down through the temple corridors leading deeper into the Ossus Temple, tired and wary from the fight, holding his wounded shoulder with his right hand applying pressure at the front though unable to keep the exit wound covered, he pushed on until they would all find a suitable area to rendezvous with their peers and recuperate in the precious minutes they were afforded.

Team Lightside: Vexander Graves | Mathieu Brion | Vulpesen | Taiia Locke | Romi Jade | Starlin Rand | Maja Fiore | Nathaniel Wellchoestor | Thirdas Heavenshield | Yula Perl | Kyra Perl | Sakadi Marathi Sinvala | Auteme | Atlas Drake
Team Sith: Darth Empyrean | Cato Demora | Alina Tremiru | Arcturus Dinn | Irina Volkov | Melydia Gold | Darth Carnifex

 

[Lunafreya Solidor]

O B J E C T I V E | III, Corruption.
L O C A T I O N | Red Dragon.
T A G S | Aaran Tafo , Thalia Senn
T H E M E | Here.
V O I C E | Here.
G E A R | Armor.
Lightsaber | Ring
Choker | Staff​

At the Bridge

“Enemy ships coming from hyperspace!”, one of the operators yelled with the full might of his lungs. Forcing Pellaeon’s holographic face to give them a desperate expression for a second, only to be reinstated by the majestic posture of someone used to this sort of nonsense when engaging others in the buoyant stage that composed the heavens. Rufus despised the thought of fighting from inside a ship, he had learned how to command a vessel, but the thought of it always brought him sheer anxiety.
“Full power to the engine room, now! Reach out for our escorts to secure our escape!”, Gideon howled at his side, and even billions of kilometers away, Praji could feel the male’s prowess and absolute resolution. He kept on typing the commands as the lights of informative data kept flashing in his pannel, he was spreading the troops throughout the vessel, for now, the Red Dragon had Jedi and soldiers wandering through its corridors, that were about to be filled with its defenders, seeking to draw their blood and murder them.
“Explosions confirmed on the Reactor’s Sublevel Two! Radiation levels reaching a critical level, it’s nuclear!”, those words struck both of them as if they were spears piercing through their hearts, had the Jedi gone mad? Nuclear weaponry was of such danger to them as it were to the Jedi, Ossus would be layered in such energy and deform its sky for years. Still, he almost felt the urge of clapping, there was a ruthless strategy taking place.

“Nuclear?!”, were the only words that Pellaeon was given time to say out loud before his holographic image disappeared, much like all the lights inside the bridge, leaving its operators completely still in their places, seemed to be hypnotized they all turned their heads to face at Praji’s face, with only one of them whispering at his direction.
“Sire, we lost contact with the Admiralty’s.”, Rufus shook his head, agreeing with the man. The gesture came with a calmness that amazed him, his tongue went on to brush both his dry lips, buying a precious moment before taking a step forward, tossing his arm to the left, shouting with such strength that was to be envied by his ancestors were they watching his sumptuous posture.
“Initiate emergency protocols! Run the ship’s auxiliary generators, reestablish the connection with our crew, secure chain command, and... H-how are we not falling?!”, his inquiry awakened the realization that the entire vessel around him was still keeping its altitude, and yet, his gaze knew the answer to that as soon as it was spoken, the moment he noticed the expression on some of the operator's face... they were nervous. Almost as if the question itself was but a burden too much to even consider answering, and despite their lack of courage to reporting to their superior, Rufus understood by looking at their faces what it implied. Forcing a dim faint sight to note sound in the once loud bridge of command as shrugged his shoulders making himself look immensely tired to all by simply pronouncing two words inside his head. ‘The Emperor...’, bringing the realization of what was really going on with the vessel around him moving to the whims of a disgusting creature gifted on this invisible primordial power called the Force. Sensitives they called themselves, but Rufus always wondered if they couldn't be more compared to demigods, by being gifted with such craft and using it only to their own personal designs. Flawed when compared to their own divine parents, predecessors of their wondrous potential. For them everything was possible. “Begin personal only evacuation. Deplete remaining troops to secure its majesty!”

At the Carnage

It felt as if her heart was being twisted and stuffed with melted stone. Her chest felt heavy, exhilarating. It always seemed different in her opinion, this time there was no energy tangible surrounding her, nor the putrid feeling that Korriban exhaled from its grimy tombs, or the wild ferocity rush that ran through her spine in Felucia, it felt as if an avalanche of darkness was falling down on the ship, it seemed to spread through the heavens, breathing and howling in the night, to crush the land and leaving no room for an inch of light to pierce through its shadowy blanket, a divine plague sent by the depths of hell to punish those that dared dream of promised light, challenging the darkness, primordial state of existence. The feeling that ran by her body was of ecstasy, pure ecstasy, bristling every hair strand of her body, almost granting Lunafreya with new breath, and blessing her dark heart with an immoral blasphemous pray.
"One thought, fills immensity...", her mind so elegantly whispered out of the trance that her species was given with the former experience due to its slower perception of time. The beauty of the Jedi storming in her direction was to be unparalleled as if it were but a shining needle surrounded by that umbral force, bravely rushing to the bowels of that inferno prepared to face its Destiny. Such beauty was hard to come by, even by her own standards after having roamed this galaxy for centuries that passed and continuing to do it so for centuries more to come.

Mellifluously, her voice so graciously flew through the air, filling the large room with its corruptive warning as if could not be better spoken by the devil himself before all of Heaven's angels. Crystalline and beautiful, there were no flaws on her tone, except for that wretched appeal and obnoxious stench.
"To see a World in a Grain of Sand and a Heaven in a Wild Flower; is to hold Infinity in the palm of your hand... And Eternity in an hour.", fluidly through her body, the right hand swam to swing the staff in the direction her guest was coming from, his speed was that of worthy note, almost hypnotizing, but her heart was wicked and seasoned, and her movements were of spiteful swiftness, having both her claws sinking its talons on the floor's metal plates beneath her, by securing her ground just before the pretentious impact of his blade, wielded by she no doubted a lot more of ferocity that she would have liked to admit, one that would probably have cut her in half if it was given a chance to do it so, or on the very least cost her prized possession. Arrogant to the end, she proudly howled of how fearlessly her wand moved in his direction, where a pale gemstone on its tip shone with dim fading light, one that soon exhaled a hoovering putrid sickly green light that enlarged itself as a misty wall of golden dust shaped like a dome around her body meant to secure her from any incoming peril.

Standing inside her golden dome, both of those red lips of hers, full and fleshy, began to mutter the words of a chanting. While her gaze of glowing golden frivolous eyes, locked themselves in the male's shape, its layers equaled blanketed malice and contempt, menacingly threatening a glimpse of its pitless depths, where nothing but a harsh and fearless will lurked, bless by pride, arrogance, cruelty, and cunning ruled supreme, where its charming appeal falsely attracted the foolish eye with deceptive promises of divine intellect that would beguile its user to attend even further, through maddening ages where entropy and venom shaped that soulless being evolved to bear a perfidious heart that desired nothing but havoc and to impose its will to dominate all living things.
“Curse at the stars in bitter grief and woe, for it made me too high and you too low.", putting malicious pomposity on its last word spoken. Her left arm tossed itself forward as if called by her mouth, leaning against the staff with her hand wide open, igniting the invisible tips of her armor's pores, from where Norfairë spat flashy sparks foreshadowing what was to come, as its plasmatic spray enhanced by the foul dark magick she had mastered was given the shape of a squall of flames that were not barred by her bubble of protection, directed by her hand at the direction from where he was coming from.

Loosely breaking its tight grip, her right avian feet unleashed its talons from the plate, sliding from downwards with clear ferocity as it hurled with her leg through the fiery air, cloaked by flames. As the pounce of a serpent, her leg launched a kick, aiming to strike against his blade, caring little for the pain her armor would feel after its impact, as its massive strength should give her what was procured from this foolish act, by creating distance between them. His face seemed familiar to her, as it reminded her of someone, not from her past, but from the present, as if he were but a pest that had its name shaped on the tip of her tongue, giving her that feeling of uncertainty of not knowing for sure.
‘Possibilities are much like the benefit of prescience; ever-changing.’, a distorted voice imitation of her own whispered inside through her brain, it was her own way of bringing back to life the forgotten knowledge hoarded from her first master so many eons ago. It was strange even to herself, on how the mind worked to evoke its fleshy consciousness of what was still of use, even if now it was nothing more than dust and bones meant to be dug for its usefulness, as a constant memento of ages past.

 

[Gir Quee]

Location: Deshet-class Heavy Carrier Ebony Torrent, in orbit via Ossus, Adega System
Objective: I Blackout
Allies: Liram Angellus Ura Iolar Okkeus Dainlei Atlas Drake
Enemies: Arthos Vynea Tithon Antilles Errix Feh'room

“Gir, we’re here. Come in.”

"Captain Nalos," informed the blonde man, "I see that your vessels are heavily damaged. A quartet of carrier corvettes should be approaching your position soon to help affect repairs-"

"Explosion on the Red Dragon. It looks like the ship is going down sir....it's....it's going to hit the planet!"

"...I apologize Captain Nalos, my attention is drawn elsewhere."

He abruptly cut the line and looked at the holo of the Red Dragon and frowned. That went down quicker than expected. Far quicker...and it doesn't look like the other enemy vessels are trying to save it? The man frowned as a trajectory course for the Red Dragon appeared on the holo. That could easily start another cataclysm on Ossus. He quickly flipped his comlink on to the channel shared by all of the Silver Jedi Concord warships present.

"Tractor that enemy command ship back up here," declared the admiral, "let's try and slow its descent. Or least, let's see if we can shift its trajectory to something less dangerous to the planet. Prepare all ships to fire retrothrusters."

"Do you want us to keep firing other weapons?" questioned one of the officers.

Gir nodded, "Might as well reduce the mass of what's going to hit the planet."

Across the fleet, tractor beams locked onto the massive hulk of the Red Dragon, from the smallest tactical projectors on the frigate to the massive Aura Tractor Beam Projectors found on the larger SJC warships present including the Emerald Undertow, the Persavi Perserverance and both Deshet-class Heavy Carriers present. As these latter tractor beam projectors locked on, they began to alter the Red Dragon's mass, making it lighter than typical. He gritted his teeth. Will this be enough? He felt a sudden surge of fear roll over him. His eyes rapidly darted across the room and saw more anxiety and fear break out among his crew. Battle meditation? That thought caused even more fear in him, yet it did not feel quite the same as previous experiences he had with that power used against him. Something on the ship perhaps? What is on that ship? His natural inquisitiveness dueled with the flood of fear.

"Switch to automated systems," ordered the blonde man, "and send in the disposable boarding teams. Someone try and get me a line with our people on that ship and let us know what's going on."

"I'm....I'm on it..." stuttered one of his comms officers.

Across his warships, automated systems began to take over for the dehibilitated crews - parallel computing from many of his ships unusual bio-computers began to promptly assume the roles of running the vessels while the crew fought their own mental struggles. Arguably more efficient in reaction times, the automated systems' predictably could be a fault if left on too long, but what choice did he have? Loaded with Legionnaire Battle Droids and Marinus Battle Droids, five of the Prudence-class Assault Shuttle squadrons jetted forward to board the plummeting ship, all while escorted the reinforcements large starfighter complement. On the Emerald Undertow, more Legionairre Battle Droids were rapidly fired out of pressor catapults to make contact with the plummeting battlecruiser. Even as gravity tugged the warship downwards, the disposable battle droids began to cut through the hull and to board the vessel itself.

Task Force Torrent (5 kilometers of ships)

Spoiler

Deshet-class Heavy Carrier Ebony Torrent
-6 squadrons of Gregale-class Heavy Fighters
-12 squadrons of Cyclone II-class Star Bombers (1 destroyed)
-2 squadrons of Firedrake-class Gunships (space superiority loadout)
Deshet-class Heavy Carrier Midnight Darkest
-12 squadrons of Gregale-class Heavy Fighters
-6 squadrons of Cyclone II-class Star Bombers
-2 squadrons of Firedrake-class Gunships (space superiority loadout)
Martan-series Carrier Corvette Blue One
-2 4 squadrons of Zephyr-class Droid Fighters
Martan-series Carrier Corvette Blue Two
-4 squadrons of Zephyr-class Droid Fighters
Martan-series Carrier Corvette Blue Three
-4 squadrons of Zephyr-class Droid Fighters
Martan-series Carrier Corvette Red One
-2 squadrons of Peth Pinook-series Fighter Gigs
-1 squadron of T9 Phantasm-class Starfighters
-1 squadron of Sowa Stealth Recon Drones

Task Force Emerald Undertow (10 km)

Spoiler

The Emerald Undertow (with boarding module)
Tritones II-class Heavy Cruiser Corellian Courage
Tritones II-class Heavy Cruiser Randon Radiance
Starhammer-class Attack Corvette Green One
Starhammer-class Attack Corvette Green Two
Starhammer-class Attack Corvette Green Three
Starhammer-class Attack Corvette Green Four
-30 Mistral-class Starfighter Squadrons
-10 Prudence-class Assault Shuttle Squadrons

Summary of Actions

Spoiler

-Silver Jedi Warships utilize tractor beams to slow Red Dragon's descent
-Boarding teams of Legionairre Battle Droids and Marinus battle droids dispatched to board the Red Dragon

 

[Arthos Vynea]

It all happened so far, too fast. Impossibly fast. The civilian transport darting for the holonet relay, the only ship that had made the attempt so far really. The ground forces hadn't even been counter attacked in an attempt to take back the holonet relay from the ground where they sealed it off from. It didn't add up, and yet even with no attempts to take back communications reinforcements had already arrived. The intelligence was good, he'd seen it himself unless the Spider had dared lie to the Emperor himself, a deadly error. Yet then again what better time to betray the Emperor and take the throne for herself? No that didn't make sense either no matter how much he'd have liked it to be true. There wouldn't have been a throne left to take if they lost everything here today. Korriban would be near defenseless for the counter attack and the Eternal would sleep once again.

"X-02 can you confirm with the ground team that there have been no real attacks on our hold on the relay from the ground?" Surely there must have been something? Yet even as his ship fired on the second battle group weren't being fully engaged and the first which had jumped away from the planet had only attacked with a hit and run. In fact their only real attacks so far had been against the interdictor to the rear.

"Correct, Lord Consul, there have been no..." The AI went suddenly silent mid sentence and a cold pit formed in Arthos stomach even as he felt the darkness from the obelisk began to form.

"Lord Consul! The Red Dragon has been sabotaged! Some type of explosion has occurred, our sensors are reading radiation likely a nuclear attack." Arthos hadn't even had the moment to respond as a look of absolute shock came over the captain's face. "My Lord, another fleet has arrived larger battleships focusing on the Emperor's ship! We're reading no response from the Red Dragon, what are your order's my Lord?" Even as he was about to respond the holo was taken over by Tithon Antilles as he freed Arthos from this responsibility so he could focus on one much more important.

"Consul, I am taking over command of your fleet. The Red Dragon is disabled, and as your bridge has no doubt told you - it was timed perfectly with a fleet dropping into orbit. I don't believe I need to spell this out for you, but the fact our communication jamming has had no effect, and that the enemy has brought a fleet just as our ship was disabled tells me we have a traitor in our midst.", he said with an authoritative anger."I am asking you to take on the title of Abjudicator - question all nonessential personnel on your ship and mine. If we are to survive this turn of events, we can't have our plans undone so easily. Tithon out."

With a grim smile Arthos nodded to his bewildered captain as he came back on the holo, "Obey the Admiral as if he speaks with my voice. I must hunt down traitors to the Emperor." Hitting a series of buttons the Consul brought back up the reports from the Adjudicators he'd requested earlier in the attack as he scanned names and notes. Nothing concrete, but that was solved easily enough. He had no time to judge each case individually and no reason to believe most could even make it to him. No this would be decided in the field, and he would oversee justice for the Emperor.

Hitting one more button he opened a comm to all of his Adjudicator commanders as he he began the tribunal. "All Consul units you are now assigned to your predetermined Adjudicators, you will obey them as they now speak for me and in this court I speak for the Emperor. There are traitors among us, and they have brought grievous destruction onto our fleet. All long range and short range transmissions are to be checked for unauthorized communications as well as the possibility of codes inserted into authorized communications. You will move your will through every mind on your ship. Those who show no sign of guilt or resistance may be marked as innocent. Those who seek to resist and block their mind will be found guilty of treason. Those who you find solid proof of betrayal you will hold for interrogation. Should there be a chance of escape you will judge them as needed. Go forth, and do the Emperor's justice, let no traitors remain to see our glorious victory."

Ending the call he could see them marching on cameras throughout the fleet. Moving section by section they checked through the crew and officers searching their minds for secrets and those who resisted were judged guilty for their resistance. The bodies were left where they fell as the Adjudicators attempted to move through the ranks as fast as they could as shipmate began to point and give away his fellow's secrets. The Adjudicators weren't interested in petty crimes though and didn't even note them. They were on the hunt for a traitor to the Emperor and had no time to waste on smaller crimes. Patiently Arthos waited even as the first alarm warning of incoming fire began. Sending out a long range transmission to Ashin Cardé Varanin he requested a body be warmed up and settled in to watch his trial to the very end. Flesh fails, but the soul lives on, no?

 

[Auteme]

Other Space Kaiden ​

The hull ripped open from the monster's flames; Auteme was pulled towards as the air was pulled from the ship's hold. She grabbed hold of the weave. In her hand materialized a thread of Force which latched onto the far wall. It became taut in an instant and she held it tight as the air whipped at her face and spat into the void.

Above her she saw the struggling Graug. He clawed at the hangar floor but it was not enough to keep him from falling -- right towards her. With what physical energy she had left she tugged the strand, just far enough out of the way to avoid a collision. Yet even then, even with such a dark and terrible creature, she couldn't watch him simply disappear into the void. Her other hand reached out and from it spat a web of threads to cover the hole in the hull to stop the atmosphere from being sucked out. A moment later and she fell to the floor with a thud. Moments after that, the ray shields of the vessel activated and the web dissipated.

A distant explosion. A blast of darkness -- emanating from there. Above. The obelisk. It was beyond her, too powerful; she was alone in the dark, crushed under a monolithic weight that told her not to rise lest she be destroyed in a single stroke.

She got to one knee, pressing hard to gain her footing again. Her eyes turned to the obelisk's guardian, just as her mind did. No, she didn't have the power to stop such a beast. She didn't have the time to focus her efforts on the obelisk, either; not yet. But he was a broken mind and soul.

Like a lance a burst of mental energy shot to the Graug's mind, intent on weakening that barrier -- where Auteme could then force her way in and search for a way to either incapacitate or purify the monstrous warrior.

 

[Ayana Vullen]

PRE-OSSUS BRIEFING | LOCKER ROOM | EN ROUTE FROM THE OUTER RIM
TAKE ME

​

“Look..here..this line I–– what do you think this emoji means?” Ayana flashed the screen in her twin’s direction, looking oddly perplexed. Humans were much easier to interact with when they were on a gurney. And texts were easier to decipher when they were using the official scientific terms. Short-hand and gushiness could be misconstrued and Ayana was spending too much time overthinking the simplest back-and-forths. “And placed like..right there? Is that bad?”

"Jedi pretty boy, again?" Suri shook her head, her nose wrinkling to show her distaste.

“Yeah, he is pretty, isn’t he?” Ayana melted, a pleasant grin stretching across her face and yanked the screen back away from her sister, finding the criticism unhelpful in deciphering the message. Which..wasn’t so cryptic the second time she read it. The emoji placement wasn’t bad at all. And, if she thought about it, history used images to communicate long before the written word, so really, sending a little pixelated rendering was far more expressive.

A chortle escaped her sister's chest, full of exasperation, though the undertones of warmth were there.

"I mean, if that's what you like, I suppose." Suri teased. "Don't read so far into things. You're a catch, he should be the one worrying about you."

"You're just saying that because you have to make me feel better." Thumbing a response out and pressing send, Ayana nodded and tucked the device away into her pack alongside foodstuff supplies. On top of extra bandages, splints, stim packs, gauze, she always kept extra snacks for the 76th. Sometimes a granola bar helped as much as a bandaid.

“I think I like it. It’s weird, that whole Jedha situation was completely out of the norm. I didn’t think he’d call me again and I definitely didn’t think we’d keep talking. I’m..kind of excited. And I know, I know, it’s just waiting for him to let me down but I’m being careful.” She bit her lip. It felt strange, having someone other than Suri to talk openly to, but Dagon was also a twin –– though he’d left the explanation as it’s complicated –– and she didn’t pry. “When we get back, we should all hang out. I think you might like him too and..” she stopped talking, pulling her armour weave over her head and then pulling her hair out through the collar so it wasn’t pressed against her back. Tying her hair back, she made a bit of a face, as if she were thinking about the layers of implication here.

Without warning, the anxious brunette reached out to wrap her arms around her sister with a quick squeeze. This locker room talk was nice, different, but she didn’t want it to feel too different. “Y’know, this isn’t going to change anything between us. Ever, it’s always you and me first.”

That genuine promise would resonate through The Twinness.

---

D U L C E T
ECLIPSE TEAM | 76TH PATHFINDER REGIMENT | GALACTIC ALLIANCE ARMED FORCES
RUSH

There was no reprieve between the Stygian Campaign and Ossus. Their forces had finally found a way to leave Sith Space, and detoured to the aid of the Silver Jedi Concord. An allegiance that had helped build the Starbird spine for trade and given the New Jedi Order access to additional Jedi resources. And probably some other benefits Ayana wasn’t privy to.

She rubbed her tired eyes and pulled her helmet over her head, but not before flashing a happy grin in the Padawan’s direction.

It was strangely serendipitous their Jedi attachment was the pretty boy Jedi –– but Ayana was somewhat relieved. With Suri in a place to give orders and all else to follow, she might end up liking the Jedi more than if they were just meeting across a table and cheersing ale; though she imagined they’d have lots in common with war stories and whatnot. If anything, Ayana would have been the odd one out.

Not ruminating on the possibility of being the third wheel in her own set-up, she made sure the seal of her helm was secure and tapped it twice to bring the HUD online.

All suited up, the only difference between the twin’s silhouettes were their markings. Suri’s had the boastings of a Major, and Ayana had bright orange for the medical technician. The weapons were different too. Where Suri was armed to the teeth, Ayana had more scalpels and cauterizers -– and snacks of course.

Their shuttle rocked against the turbulence of the atmosphere, arriving just after the beginnings of action. Updates and chatter barked over the allies’ comms, providing updates on the situation. Ossus was fast becoming distraught, overwhelmed by the assault.

“That ship’s going down!” The pilot barked, adjusting the throttle for the approach. The ship lurched in response to the shift. In response, despite just being a transport, the shuttle activated its targeting system and brought all its weapons online, transfixing its full fire on the fast-falling Sith ship.

Another update came through: Jedi are retreating, falling back to the Temple!

“Alright major, what’s your call now? We do the ground as planned or..we’re..” she made a face beneath her helmet, getting a sense of one of the options Suri might have been weighing in her mind. “Nuh-uh. We are not equipped to jump on a flaming ball of metal about to hit a planet. I do not have enough bandages for that.”


ALLIES | SJC | GA | NJO | Suri Vullen | Dagon Kaze
ENEMIES | LOTS | OPEN

 

[Mathieu Brion]

​

Tags: Alina Tremiru
Other tags: Vexander Graves Vulpesen Taiia Locke Romi Jade Caedyn Arenais Caltin Vanagor Nathaniel Wellchoestor Maja Fiore Starlin Rand Thirdas Heavenshield
Location: Ossus, Jedi Temple
Equipment: What is detailed in the character sheet.

As he got back up to his feet, Mathieu saw Alina inside the building up ahead. The temple had a weaker exterior at certain parts and she seemed to have found one of those parts. Now, he felt rather glad that the soft snow had caught him as opposed to a wall - it was softer and hurt considerably less. His eyebrows furrowed when he saw the Sith take hold of his fellow Jedi's head. His voice grew strong, more stern and commanding than before "Let go" he said, taking fast steps towards her. When she slammed him to the wall, he hollered it out once more "Let go!" When she finally did do as he commanded, the Padawan could do little else than to look at the corpse with devastated eyes, unable to truly figure out what it was that had just happened.

Her words dripped with evil as she spoke of what she had done and to his horror, the deceased Jedi eventually rose from the dead, sabre still at hand but seemingly empty. Upon hearing her command, his fallen ally started to rush towards him, much to Mathieu's dismay, hoping to avoid having to fight the fallen Knight, Mathiue reached out through the force and flung the husk back at its creator, creating a deadly threat as its sabre ignited during the journey. With the brief pause, he couldn't help but to notice how the dark side seemed to be falling heavily onto his shoulders as the ship that had been a mere backdrop exploded and suddenly started its slow descent towards the planet. It was starting to become clear that the Sith were growing stronger as it did and with that in mind, Mathieu turned to run towards the temple entrance.

Others seemed to have the same idea as most Jedi were falling back towards the temple. In an effort to slow Alina down a little bit further, Mathieu reached out once more to telekinetically hurl a snow covered rock at her as he ran. The entrance was packed with more action than he could fully perceive. While numerous parts of the outer structure had been damaged, the inner core of it would hold fast against most attacks. It was something which they might have to come to rely on while trying to overcome the effects of the artefact which could be found on the descending ship.

Leaning himself against one of the entrance doors, Mathieu prepared to close it. Hollering at anyone who stood outside to come in. The battle raged on at full as numerous Jedi retreated, some staying behind to hold the Sith off to buy the others a little time and others forming pockets of resistance in the village outside, seemingly confident in their abilities to hold the attackers off. As for most near the temple, it would become increasingly clear that the gates would be closing to give those inside temporary pause to recover and prepare for when the battle would inevitably continue.

 

[Romi Jade]

Objective II: Regicide
Inventory: Gear in sig
----
Allies: The Silver Jedi Concord, Sakadi Marathi Sinvala | Coren Starchaser | Caedyn Arenais | Vexander Graves | Mathieu Brion | Yula Perl | Kyra Perl | Caltin Vanagor | Taiia Locke | Auteme | Maja Fiore | Thirdas Heavenshield | Syd Celsius | Thalia Senn | Ura Iolar | Beltran Rarr | Vulpesen | Nathaniel Wellchoestor
----
Opposition: Darth Empyrean | Grundark | Alina Tremiru | I Irina Volkov | Arcturus Dinn | Melydia Gold
(Sorry to anyone I missed)
Meld talk = Color


Her eyes cut to their corners -- hyperawareness pulling her attention back.

She knew his grip was inevitable.

Romi did not have the half a second it would take to raise her arms again, so she did what she would do in a spot like this. She tucked her chin, so his fingers couldn't curl for a good grip. When she felt his cool touch she shrugged her shoulders, tensing her calves as to not lose balance, her hands came in as she lost her saber. She whipped her leg around and curled it around his forward one, then she swung her hip around in a big step outside his frame, and subsequently his grip.

She barely missed his spear into her lower back, feeling the energy caress her lower back as she swung a few degrees out of its trajectory. In any other situation she would have flipped him, as she would've definitely had the leverage. But a lousy step out, and not knowing exactly what his attack was -- she lurched backwards a few steps to put some space between them.

She negligently wove her hand, and called her hilt to her hand. In that next second she snatched her wrist with her finger just over the ignition switch and had ever intention of coming in for the kill, already perceiving the erratic flashes of where her blade was going to go before she even stroked the hilt.

But

She took a step, and was halted by the A cascade of blaster fire that began to sweep the entryway of the structure as it was overran.

She hit a pivot and spun back around counterclockwise; her lightsaber streamed up to meet the attack. She spun to add force to the parry, and the scarlet blade sheered through the descending bolts as she whirled and danced across the marbled floor seemingly almost faster than the reflection mimicking her. Romi spun to her side and tapped two more bolts away, only to find herself badly out of position as a third dropped near her head. She launched herself into a backward roll, followed by two more that put some space between her and them before whirling around a corner and out of fire.

While she snaked her back up against the wall of her temporary cover. The world became slow and she got a vague impression of psychic energy welling up --

"Master Jade. There is no time." Her disembodied voice was faint and strained, for she battled against the cold tendrils of the Dark side that tried to wrap around her mind. "We failed. The Red Dragon will crash on Ossus. We can no longer stop the ritual… Save who you can."

"Sakadi..." Barely audible words.

A few shallow breaths that felt like it took hours to pass...she was processing.

"No." There was conviction, "...we haven't failed yet." She banked left and ran down a side corridor, obviously retreating further in but cut off from the others; she'd have to find her way through the temple. Breaking her stride, the next corner she hit after a lengthy sprint saw she slide behind it and brace herself. "Coren, Sakadi I'll need you...and everyone else." She sent them vague impressions of what she was planning before she dug her fingers into her skull and with them helping it'd go quicker.. The world became still but continuously inundated with the interference and alerts over the comms. One by one, she deafened herself to each sense in a calculated sequence that only she could remember. A funnel, she absorbed the subtle waves of energy suffused into the very fabric of the landscape around them. She siphoned but she gave just as much of herself. When she finally fell into the whims of the Force, it allowed for a mental call through the empyrean.

Her power became metaphysical tendrils reaching out and touching all those force sensitives on the ground. Tapping into the natural force bonds of this world and the Force-sensitives on their side, formulating a deeper connection with them; she shared this sensation amongst them all, so they'd all share in this wellspring. From across the stars, she'd call upon Jend-Ro Quill , Nylea Apollodor , Tiland Kortun , Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri , Saint Lauren those who she had learned to commune with the Golden Sun with and could call upon each other for strength.

They'd meld their mind and spirits together, with her forming the link; they could act as one.

His former apprentice having broken through his mental defense with astonishing ease in her moment of desperation; the power that she could summon when everything was put on the line and nothing was restrained by her former doubts and insecurities of the past.

​

"Everyone...these are the moments we strive for, when the hope of victory becomes real. I'll cover you with my life, but I'm asking you now to lend me your strength in return."

Her voice would echo in the back of their minds, until they accepted her call. She was reaching out, and at first nearly felt sick with fear at hearing no response. But then she realized that it was this suffocating and ominous energy field interfering, extending even into that personal level of communication. She closed her eyes and reached in deeper, past the dark psi blockade, and she heard.

Seen through the Force, she was a maelstrom of luminous energy that she was distributing amongst her peers. And yet all his energy poured from a calm center; an eye. "Don't give them anything to feed off of...acknowledgment is power for them. Focus on me... my voice." She'd woven a crown of empyreal energy molded from lightside energy, and hyperfocused power keenly and precisely pouring into the crevices of the black barrier. An pinkish wave sprawled from her figure like glowing fire, and spread along this network. She gave several these psi shields to her party. "Your feelings of dread are no more. Listen to me, these next few minutes are important...and I'll need all of you. There's a ship heading right for us...and guess what? We're gonna stop it. Together."

She carved a pattern in her temple with the tip of her fingers as she reached out with her free hand. "Direct whatever you've got up, I'll guide you. Lets move this thing."

The combined effort of the Jedi and her amping and directing them would likely be able to push the object just out of reach, driving it some degrees off its intended mark -- at the very least they'd direct it to another part of the planet. She was heavily betting on the former.

 

[Dis]

Dis the Shadow(cat)
Shadowcat, explorer and wanderer; Owner of the Cat’s Paw; Member of the Greystone Mercantile​

Objective III.: Corruption
Location: Sith Eternal’s ship
Equipment: N/A
Writing with: Sakadi Marathi Sinvala

The lights in the elevator also changed, which was weird for Dis; they hadn't really seen such colors from a lamp yet. The Shadowcat received only one answer from their current partner, nothing after that. They didn’t really know what should or could do in this situation. It was so new to them that they really didn’t know. At such times, they regretted that Darth Prospero had made them immaterial. That is, in Realspace, they, for them, had a physical body at home in the Netherworld, that is, similar to it, but not here.

They looked around curiously, not really knowing how they could be of use to the Jedi in this situation. Then suddenly something came to their mind.

~ All I can do is go out and see where you can get out of here! ~ they offered.

They didn't really wait for an answer, but slipped across the wall forward. Dis looked up first, on both sides, and then repeated the same thing below. The Shadowcat also checked where are many mortals are there, which path might be safest for Sakadi. From what they saw several people fleeing, the soldiers left their seats and headed for the hangars and after this they finally went back to the elevator.

~ We are just between two levels. The bottom is closer in this direction, about 40 to 60 centimetres from the bottom of the elevator. There is no one in the hallway, everyone is trying to escape as I saw and felt. ~ they also explained and showed the right direction to the woman.

 

[Darth Empyrean]

​

Objective II: Regicide
Allies: Alina Tremiru │ Grundark │ Irina Volkov │ Arcturus Dinn │ Melydia Gold
Enemies: Vexander Graves │ Mathieu Brion │ Vulpesen │ Taiia Locke │ Caedyn Arenais │ Romi Jade │ Starlin Rand │ Maja Fiore │ Nathaniel Wellchoestor

As the energy of Romi's first Force Light faded - Maliphant would appear from its depths, hair moddled, open sores on parts of his skin, and his armor slowly fading into dust. He glanced over his hands as he looked over what had occured checking himself for any extensive damage, but he could feel nothing beyond the superficial. Wide and permeating, a grin formed on his cheeks as he witnessed his deed alone -​

​

"So it is true.", he mused to himself, quietly confident that he had shrugged off the power of Force Light with only the lightest of wounds. His gaze turned upward to look at another Maliphant, who's gaze met his and smile matched in tandem.​

​

"I see you fair well.", Maliphant said to his dark sided clone, that which had grabbed Romi only a second earlier.​

​

"And you as well.", the other mused - though it was now far more obvious they were a being of pure dark sided energy, a shadow clone made in the same manner as Naga Sadow. Not only had Maliphant managed to tank the Force Light, but he had summoned a clone to draw the attention from him - and now in tandem, they followed.​

​

They could feel the massive amount of energy Romi was building up - how deep her connection was trying to fall. Maliphant and his clone, however, would not allow her to focus such energies on the ship; their ruse more than obvious. He was not nearly a big enough object for their collective strength, but he was suprised they wouldn't hold out such an ability until far down the path. As the Dark Side energies of the Obelisk began to fill him and his staff with strength, he clicked it against the floor and Romi would feel its tug again.​

​

The energies would rip her and the air around her against the wall she was hiding behind with super sonic speeds - as Maliphant's clone formed the pseudo hilt of a force saber in his palm, rushing the corner and slamming its dark energies into the area she would be trapped. It, however, was only to upset her concentration - something the Jedi needed for such monumental acts of strength. Instead, Maliphant tapped Kala'anda against the ground once more - and let his dark sided power begin to permeate her connection, seeking to not only draw the dark energies from Romi, but allow the Obelisk to touch on the remnants of her selfish identity along with everyone she attempted to meld with.​

​

"Yes, Romi...", Maliphant said from out of her sight as the Clone moved to strike again.​

​

"Give me access to them all. Let their will drop to you, so that I may feed their minds with dark truths - a Trojan horse to your invintation.", he mocked before descending into laughter, his staff glowing from the monsterous strength he now held in his palm.​

​

Romi Jade Nylea Apollodor Tiland Kortun Jend-Ro Quill Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri Saint Lauren​

 

[Aspect of Passion]

​

Objective III: Corruption
Allies: Darth Carnifex // Quintus Varro
Enemies: Jedi Scum

The ship's descent seemed to slow as more and more attempted to stop it. From the hopelessly insufficient Tractor Beams of the fleet that ambushed them, to the rising strength of the Jedi in the Ossus Temple. The ship's frame began to bend and shriek in protest at the innumerable amounts of forces attempting to sway its path. From the gravity of the planet and the Worm pulling it down, to the tractor beams and jedi hoping to stop it - the ship began to near its limit.​

​

The Worm Emperor, seemed none bothered as his hand clenched tighter - pushing, pushing, pushing the ship into the planet with ever passing second. Rare was it to witness the Worm Emperor actually use the Force, but whenever his arm had reached out from beneath the cloak there was always a reckoning - against a single individual, such as Darth Morrow , Darth Empyrean , or Judas of Vahl ; or against the many, such as now. Whispers grew louder, eyes began to form in the impermiable darkness that now coated every surface of the bridge - and any Jedi on the planet would feel a second essence begin to rise along side the obelisk.​

​

Yet the Worm would reach out to only one - the mind of Romi Jade .​

​

"Your efforts are noble, child.", his regal tone offered her as a thousand whispers carried behind it like a cacaphonous parade.​

​

"But misguided. Know that this obelisk will free you - and the many still there. Accept your fate and know that a pact made with the Dark Side can never be broken. It yet resides in you, even if you deny it."​

​

And as though on command, she would feel that dark whisper - of a time long past, golden eyes in the darkness that looked all too familiar as her own. Anxiety, dread, but freedom stood with in them.​

​

And when she would see that, the Worm would speak to the planet at large. They would hear his imperial voice in their minds - feel his energy in their hearts, know him for the Sith Eternal knew him as; the Sith'ari, a god walking, and with his voice carried thunder they could not hear, but could most certainly feel.​

​

"Jedi of Ossus - too long have you been enslaved by the Force, given visions of paths you were meant to take, encouraging the usurpers that sit upon its throne to use you as its vessels. Know I hold no ill against you, for you are but children simply doing as commanded. Those willing, put down your swords - deny the Force before me, and you may yet be saved as people worthy of serving your own destiny...", he offered them.​

​

"But deny me now, and I shall deny you when the Judgement occurs. When the Force falters, when your strength fails you, and no longer do you hear its eldritch call. Do not wait until all is lost - but allow what must be done, to be done. Witness me - for I bring about the new era."​

​

And with that, for the first time anyone had ever witnessed - more arms began to rise from beneath the Worm's cloak. Nine to match the first, all left hands - wrapped in black cloth and spindly, but powerful in the Dark Side. Each began to grasp the void, pull on the Force with such conviction that every finger joint would send echo's across the planet; and the many armed Sith'ari of the Worm would be known for what he was.​

​

Death of the Force, the incarnation of a new order, and the answer to all the galaxie's woes. For a single instant, the entire galaxy would feel his call; witness his strength in a single wave that spread itself across the Force so wildly, that none could ignore. Not Darth Carnifex upon his throne, or Wyatt Morga in hiding - as they would all bear witness to its grandeious strength. A show of force, a theory proven, and the true strength of the reincarnated Sith'ari.​

​

And the ship, halted in only a moment before, would begin to fall once more - faster than it had, dragging those ships who had chosen to attach themselves to it through their tractor beams. There would be no recourse as the Masks began to hum, the ship groaned and pieces of its damaged and moddled frame would fall lose of its main embodiment, and what was left of the 'Red Dragon' began to turn into a red hot coffin being sent directly to the planet's surface - but far from the Temple, within sight of it, but not to land upon it.​

​

The Worm didn't want to kill the Jedi within - only for them to bear witness to the genesis of the new Order.​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Location: Outside the Temple
Allies: Sith Eternal
Enemies: Silver Jedi
Tags: Mathieu Brion

The surge of darkness was almost welcoming. It unsettled the Jedi, even gave her power. But, it wasn't power she had asked for. Alina was a stubborn and prideful being. She came after Mathieu for purely selfish reasons. It was power denied, for only her own victory could break her chains. Her blade flicked up as the shambling husk was thrown her way, severed in two to land around her. No blood was spilt. There was none left within the body. Worse, the husk started to move after it landed, the upper torso clawing it's way as fast as it's shambling body could to crawl towards Mathieu.

Her orders were still in effect, and all it knew was hunger and obedience.

"The darkness is weighing on you. This isn't how I wanted to beat you, Mathieu." In a blur of movement she smacked the rock away as if it was little more than a huttball. She'd of given chase, if it wasn't for another of the Knights coming after her. Hold her and the Sith back? The darkness descending above made it too easy. Uncertainty, fear. Sacrifice. It was as if the Jedi accepted their fate. Her Lightspear ran him through, ending their life. She kicked the corpse to the ground, glancing to the doorway where Mathieu was shutting it.

A delay to regain their breath? She narrowed her eyes. That wouldn't do. Mathieu was hers. Anger rushed through her mind as she lifted her Lightspear before throwing the weapon with all her might towards the retreating Jedi. Fully intent on impaling him to the door he was trying to close.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Communication Blackout
Halls
Yula Perl | Soloman Priest Jorii Vizsla

Spoiler: The Story

Communication Blackout
Halls
Yula Perl | Open for opposition



A jitter ran up Kyra's spine as she crept through the dark hall. The spices left her senses dull, but she didn't need em to know something was off.

So the dreams had been right after all... Force be damned.

She told herself she wouldn't come, but clearly she had the self-control of a bowless bowl of jello- all jiggling everywhere whether or not it wanted to. ... Alright, weird comparison, but it was what she felt like as she stumbled through the dark halls. She wasn't too far gone that she couldn't summon a ball of light to assist her, she just didn't think it was wise. Whoever did this to the station probably had planned; turning herself into a beacon while they lurked about was a dumb idea even to her.

That was, if people were the cause at all. A pang of self-doubt crept forward-- shots went off around the corner.

Kyra cursed and threw herself backwards. She crab crawled back the way she came, not wasting time to flip over and find her feet as she found her way around the corner.

Oh, she was so right! She forced herself to concentrate and reach for the distant hum of the force. A dim ball of light appeared at her side, illuminating her cybernetic arm as she pulled up the controls. She frowned, her good hand bumbling about for the life form scanner. Which was... where again? Metal parted at her wrist. A sharp whistle filled the air.

A flair shot out of the cybernetic.

LOCATION | Ossus Communications Hub | Vent to Hall
ALLIES | Kyra Perl
ENEMIES | Soloman Priest | Jorii Vizsla

Slicing her way through the door—either electronically or literally—wasn’t her best option. Too risky while under attack, you’d never know who might catch a wink of the plasma blade burning through durasteel, or be plugged into the same network.

Yet again, Yula found herself crawling through the ventilation shaft. Emily was ahead of her, the little spider droid skittering a path through the ducts. “Wait!” Yula hissed, grabbing Emily by the leg and pulling her back suddenly. Just ahead of them, a few rays of dim light filtered through the grate. “Someone’s there.”

Squeezing her way past the indignant droid, Yula peered over the edge of the grill. Her dark brows scrunched together tightly, pupils restricting with the sudden onset of light. Then she saw who it was.

She kicked through the grate, dropping from the ceiling at the same time a sharp whistle nearly pierced her eardrums. Hanging by the pads of her fingers, she swung her body to the side and narrowly dodged the flare. The projectile spiraled down the hall, screaming its big fat presence to this half of the communication hub before fizzling out.

With the beacon unfortunately lit, there was little time to act. “Kyra!” She snapped, eschewing introductions and grabbing her sister’s wrist. She dragged the younger Perl down the hall and around the corner, stopping only to push her against the cold durasteel wall. Yula’s hand went to Kyra’s chin, gripping it tightly while she turned her sister’s face this way and that—noting the lidded glaze of her eyes.

A shocked pause. “Feth, you’re high!” She snapped in disbelief. Nida’s disappearance had been especially hard on Kyra, and Yula felt a pang of guilt that she hadn’t intervened sooner. It had never crossed her mind that Kyra—the baby of the family—would turn to this sort of vice to dull her pain.

Yula huffed, blowing a strand of hair from her face in the process. They’d get to that later. Now…

“Kyra—Kyra, listen to me. We’re under attack. Someone took out the power.” They were quite literally in the dark, not knowing who their assailants were or how many had swarmed the facility. “I don’t know who it is, but I doubt that the bulk of their forces are here.” Ossus had more valuable targets, and hindering communication was likely only a piece of the plan. “Listen. Listen.” She motioned Emily forward, and the droid projected a map of the facility. “There’s a backup generator somewhere around here, underground.” She pointed a finger at the far end of the holo projection. “I don’t know if they’ve gotten to it yet, but judging that the explosions came from here,” Her hand shifted, this time to another end of the map. “There’s a decent chance it’s untouched. For now. We don’t know who they are or what they’re packing, so our better bet is to get to the backup. It won’t restore the entire hub, but it should be enough to get most critical systems running again if the infrastructure damage isn’t too bad.”

She paused, suddenly wondering if all that sank in. “You up to it? Lights go out, we fix them, yeah?” Another pause. “Seriously, if you’re not, you need to tell me now.”

The hairs at the back of her neck prickled in warning. Something was coming, moving in their direction.

“We need to go. Now.”

Communication Blackout
Halls
Yula Perl | Open for opposition


"Whooaaaa~"

Kyra abruptly found herself yanked down a hall, her ball of light dissipating as her attention was snatched.

“Kyra!”

"Yula?" She replied dumbly back, her resistance melting away as the elder Perl started checking out the state of her makeup.

"Feth, you're high."

Or was that her eyes.

She jerked her chin back, wordless noises of sibling grumbles falling from her as she tried to regain her orientation. "And you smell like noodles." She huffed as the dreaded spider driod named Emily came forward with a map. They were still mortal enemies, though perhaps now was a bad time to try and crush her again. "Just what is going on he-"

Yula's explanation left her wide-eyed, dread creeping through her stomach.

"An invasion?" she echoed, not responding to Yula's final, probing question. Did the sith never let it rest? Stress crept through her shoulders, her scalp tingling.

Was she up to it?

No. Absolutely not. She wanted to skip right out on out. Her palms itched for the feel of a drink. Her skin craved the deafening vibrations of a club. Anything to drown out the chilling silence of these halls. Goosebumps rose over her skin.

“Seriously, if you’re not, you need to tell me now.”

And what? Leave her sister to it all? Her jaw set, her legs growing a little steadier on the ground.

"Don't be a doofus, I came didn't I?"

She pushed herself to her feet, mentally cursing the trippy dreams that had predicted this event. Either the spices were that good, or she was growing stronger.

She grimaced into the darkness, feeling along the wall with a sweaty palm.

"I'm all out of flairs tho'."

Objective I: Blackout
Allies: Jorii Vizsla
Enemies: Yula Perl │ Kyra Perl

"Don't have any friends on Ossus.", he said flatly, synthesized by the vocoder

Soloman wasn't actually sure of that statement, but he somehow doubted it. Doubled down by the flaming corpses in front of him, he stepped over them without a second glance as he looked around - hoping that if he did have any friends on this planet, they weren't nearby. He'd hate to have to put one down by surprise, but it was often the way things went when all your friends were killers for hire.

Soloman's boots were muddled by a slight dampening material on the soles - but it wasn't enough to truly mask his imposing figure or the sound of his approach. At least when he wasn't trying - so as they rounded the corner and saw the two Zeltron's moving away from them, he shot a round off between their heads hoping to force them to a halt.

"Freeze, aruetii.", he said with the gruffness of his people's tongue.

"Where's girlies like you running off to at this fine hour?", he mused as he moved to close the distance.

As he followed them, approached them, he offered through his internal comms where they couldn't hear him to Jorri -

"We're going to need hostages if things turn ugly. Get at least one of them, see if they know the easiest route out, then move."

LOCATION | Ossus Communications Hub | Vent to Hall
ALLIES | Kyra Perl
ENEMIES | Soloman Priest | Jorii Vizsla

Yula felt a brief measure of relief when Kyra seemed to absorb the explanation. Maybe she wasn’t completely lost in the sauce after all. She studied her sister with scrutinizing eyes while she appeared to mull it over. The clench of her jaw told Yula everything, and the corner of her mouth peeled into a tense smile.

“Enough flairs for one day. Let’s get moving.”

The pair of Zeltrons stumbled into a jog down the hall, but their pursuers shored up the distance quickly.

A shot rang out overhead, pinging against the wall and Yula ducked on instinct, squeezing Kyra's hand. A glance to the side and the fact that her sister hadn't dropped to dead weight kept her heart from thudding out of her chest.

“Freeze, aruetii.”

“Mandalorians??” She hissed to Kyra with an incredulous tone. The Mandos and Jedi had a tenuous relationship at best, but lately, they’d been keeping to themselves. Still, war was their religion. She hadn’t expected this.

“Bathroom emergency!” Yula called back, sending them into a zigzag pattern as they rounded another corner. “My sister’s got the runs real bad!” Which wasn’t far from the truth, considering what spice did to your gastrointestinal track.

Objective: 1
Location: Ossus, underground bunker
Equipment:

• Beskar'gam
• Beskad
• Tomahawk
• Mandalorian ripper (pistol variant)
• Blaster rifle

Allies: Soloman Priest
Enemies: Yula Perl | Kyra Perl

Taking hostages wasn't a bad plan, in theory. Guaranteed them a way out and kept combat to a minimum. But even someone like her was wary of going toe-to-toe with a Jedi with the express intent of not killing them. She'd rather have taken their chances finding a way out on their own, but in the end their odds of ending up facing another Jedi were about the same. Better to have collateral.

"Sure, why not. We haven't tempted fate enough yet," Jorii shot back over that same private line. Whether it was another jab was hard to tell, but it was obvious she wasn't entirely on board with the strategy, nor expressly against. What was done was done, and it was a matter of rolling with the punches now.

Begrudgingly she switched her rifle to stun, watching as their quarry took off around the next corner. At least they were smart. She took off after them, stopping near the beginning of the next hallway and sighting through the scope of her rifle, lining up her next shot as best she could with the zigzag they were running in. She let off two shots in quick succession, pressing forward regardless of their success. Either they would get backed into a corner, or be inadvertently led to the exit. There were worse odds out there.

"I hope you don't expect me not to kill them if they stand their ground." She left it at that. It wasn't a matter of fear, but common sense. Her clan had raised her to treat Force-users with absolute prejudice, and some things just didn't change.

Communication Blackout
Halls
Yula Perl | Open for opposition


A shot whizzed by Kyra's head, the wind in her hair sending a chill down her spine.

That close, huh?

She blinked hard, trying to will her head into clearing. A small voice in the back of her mind screamed at her to smarten up, but she couldn't. The haze clung to her, fueled by the shocking events that she walked into.

She had come here suspecting something would go down, and yet she stared through the dim darkness with a look stupidity plastered across her parted lips.

Mandos.

Guns.

Right.

She felt herself be yanked away. Her sister's urgency drove her forward, their connected hands giving Kyra an all too unwelcomed line into Yula's emotions. Her legs obeyed where her head couldn't. She jogged erratically, her pestering inner voice morphing into her master's. Be aware of your surroundings.

Yeah, okay! Sorry! She fecked that up!

Pew pew.

Her attention sharpened. She tried to jerk herself to the si- heat exploded over her shoulder. Her body seized up, the stun bolt sizzling its way through her muscle sheaths. For a flickering moment, the pain parted the fog...

And then she hit the ground. Her hand locked up and froze up inside her sister's grip, no doubt holding Yula back.

Objective I: Blackout
Allies: Jorii Vizsla
Enemies: Yula Perl │ Kyra Perl

"Doesn't work if we kill the hostages.", he said as his heavy foot falls carried him past her - with a surprising speed considering how heavy the armor seemed to look. For his sake, it was due to the exoskeleton understructure that made his Beskar'gam nearly weightless to him - but for others, it was a nice intimidation factor to see the massive man charging them.

As he closed the distance to the fallen Kyra, and Yula desperately trying to pick her up and carry her, his foot would shoot out to hopefully land directly in Yula's ribs. He would have gone for the head, even activated the repulsor lift in his heel, but he wasn't exactly looking to take her head off - or discombobulated her too much. Just a sharp kick as revenge for making him run.

As soon as his foot would likely land, he pulled the other pistol from its holster and aimed one at each of them. The beskar'gam's helmet digitized his voice slightly as he began to speak;

"You have about ten seconds to tell me the emergency routines in this facility, where the exit is, and how many people I'll meet on the way.", he said with a harsh gruffness.

"And I'm not good at counting, so don't test my patience."

That sounded tougher in his head.

LOCATION | Ossus Communications Hub | Hall
ALLIES | Kyra Perl
ENEMIES | Soloman Priest | Jorii Vizsla

Like any well-planned attack, the assailants on Ossus had come as a total surprise. In the span of a few minutes, they had managed to cut the power to the communication hub and invade the facility. Yula didn’t know how many of them there were, if the Mandalorians were the sole invaders, or if they’d contracted their services to another power. Both were possible, but it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter why they were there, and it didn’t matter whatever the bigger picture was.

“No!”

Kyra’s dead weight was what Yula had dreaded the most. Taking care of her sister wasn’t a burden, but when she felt her arm stretch with the heaviness of Kyra’s stillness, her heart thudded wildly in her throat. Suddenly, she was acutely aware of the tightness of Kyra’s grip. “Damnit!” She hissed with raw irritation, concern lining her tone. Yula’s worry for her sister, amplified by their physical connection, would be palpable to the young empath. She shook her sister by the good shoulder, urging her to get up without words. Emily skittered her way to Kyra's slumped form, alternatively chirping in concern and trying to hide in fear among the fallen Zeltron.

Nida had been hanging by a hair’s breadth over the point of no return for the longest time. Yula refused to come close to losing another sister today. A good marksman, an unfortunate stumble, a chance—it didn’t matter what had brought her sister down. Their chance for a clean escape was rapidly dwindling, but the Perl family never went quietly into the night. Her hand left Kyra’s shoulder, reaching to the side of her hip and retrieving a cylindrical hilt.

Their initial pursuer had closed the gap in a matter of seconds. Yula tensed, the adrenaline of being hunted and the baser urge to protect her family fueling her hypervigilance. In an instant, she had disconnected from Kyra and turned sharply on both feet, whirling around while activating her sister’s lightsaber. Cerulean streaks burned a brilliant path through the dead air, angling downward slightly to catch the Mandalorian’s foot before it could make contact with her ribs. She doubted the blade would be able to sear its way through his beskar’gam, but the pressure she put behind the plasma blade was enough to keep her lungs from being punctured.

She could see her hard-eyed gaze reflected in the gloss of Soloman's helmet, determined to protect her injured sibling.

“Ooh, what’s the matter—didn’t plan your exit strategy, big guy? I don’t work for free, give me your info and I’ll send you my consulting fee.” Yula chortled in derision, pressing back against the foot and pushing away from the Mandalorian, one hand splayed back towards her sister in both a gesture of protection and to aid her balance. She was acutely aware that there was at least another one in the vicinity, which would make this tricky. At least they were after information, not lives.

“They never taught you how to count in Mando school? That’s saaad.”

Objective: 1
Location: Ossus, underground bunker
Equipment:

• Beskar'gam
• Beskad
• Tomahawk
• Mandalorian ripper (pistol variant)
• Blaster rifle

Allies: Soloman Priest
Enemies: Yula Perl | Kyra Perl

As soon as one of them dropped she knew the next few moments were either going to go very well or end with at least one of the three of them dead. Still, Jorii didn't stop Soloman from pressing the advantage, coming up behind him as he charged the one still standing. It was better to keep their kind backpedaling and not give them a chance to recoup and counter. She'd experienced firsthand what happened in that instance, and been raised on tales of worse.

All of that came to the forefront of her mind once the lightsaber ignited. In a split second the rules of engagement had changed. Her rifle was slung across her back in favor of the ripper she drew with her off hand, bringing it to bear on the other woman and aiming for center mass. If there was one thing they couldn't block, it was slugs, and she felt better knowing that if the attempt was made the only reward was melted lead in her face.

There was no need to communicate her change of strategy to Soloman, as he knew full well what that lightsaber meant. Mandalorians were raised to kill Jedi, and here was the chance to prove just that.

"Think carefully about how you want this to end. All you need to do is tell us where the exit is and what our odds are of running into any of your friends. Everyone can walk away." That was becoming less and less likely the longer this confrontation dragged on, and as good as their odds were she wasn't keen on testing them. Damn Jedi.

Objective I: Blackout
Allies: Jorii Vizsla
Enemies: Yula Perl │ Kyra Perl

Where Jorii had seen it fit to shoot at the standing zeltron, Soloman knew that fighting a Jedi was rarely about going directly at them. Unlike his Mandalorian brethren who chose to overwhelm Jedi with bigger and bigger guns, Soloman had some strategy in mind - but it was what had garnered him the marred reputation for being less than honorable.

All was fair in love and war, he imagined. So he took advantage of both in a single move. His two handguns twisted to point directly at the Zeltron still on the ground, hammers cocked, fingers already through the first stage of his trigger - even slightly more pressure releasing two verpine rounds directly into the drugged up Perl. His vocoder came through slower this time - darker than it was a moment before.

"These pistols have targetting assistance. Push me with the Force, move in a way I don't like, and your friend gets two to the head. Don't make me slip, Jedi - they didn't teach me how to clean in Mando school either, and I'm about to make a mess."

He motioned with his head towards Jorii without taking his eyes off Yula -

"Listen to my friend. Put the saber down, and you both might live."

Communication Blackout
Halls
Yula Perl | Soloman Priest Jorii Vizsla


No.

Nonononono.

Yula's fear was sobering. Flickers of her thoughts reached Kyra through the contact-- Not another sister. The words rattled her to her core. She hadn't paused to consider how Yula was handling the near loss of their other siblings. Kyra had simply assumed that she had been the only one affected. It was shallow of her, she realized. The intensity of Yula's fear shot through her like electricity.

Yanno maybe she had made a mistake.

Her face laid smushed into the ground, her breath fogging up the dirty tile. She should have thought this through more. She had been chasing a half-hazy dream and ended right back in the brutal reality of their work.

Her master's face bubbled up inside her mind, a phantom look saying it all.

Oh shut up. She groaned wordlessly, protesting the threats occurring over her head. No matter how much she screamed at her limbs to move and help, they laid unmoving. She tried to will her mind to clear, but will power alone couldn't clear her senses.

The spices she had taken to drown out the world drowned out the very skill that could save their lives. She could feel it pulsing in the cloudy distance.

The Force.

She had been shying back from it for months. She had witnessed the genocide of Myrkr. Tapped in, the empath had felt the death and heard the anguish of the billions the sith had eradicated in an instant. Every day it echoed in her psyche, reminding her of what might happen again if she reached out.

Her sister's fear pulsed through the air.

Not another sister. She steeled herself and reached out a quivering mental hand for the power.

The warmth of the force crept over her. ​

LOCATION | Ossus Communications Hub | Hall
ALLIES | Kyra Perl
ENEMIES | Soloman Priest | Jorii Vizsla

Might live?

Yula was surprised by the measure of patience displayed by the Mandalorians. Maybe they taught negotiation in Mando school.

Her expression never withdrew, sharp features hardened with concentration. She might have been nimble enough to slip away and disappear into a vent, or disrupt the mechanical systems of their armor or weapons if she could get in closer. On her own, she might have been able to get away.

But she wasn’t on her own.

And she didn’t need to glance over her shoulder to know that her sister, ill and injured, had the muzzle of more than enough blasters pointed at her. Yula operated on taking risks—some measured, some not—and reveled in the thrill of her success and failure alike. Even if they were bluffing, and she was fairly certain they weren’t, she refused to play roulette with Kyra’s life.

The brilliant blue blade disappeared in an instant, its hilt clattering to the floor as Yula raised both hands, palms up to the Mandalorian in front of her.

“Fine. Don’t hurt her.”

​

Objective I: Blackout
Allies: Jorii Vizsla
Enemies: Yula Perl │ Kyra Perl

"Good girl.", Soloman said slowly, watching her through the built in HUD of his helmet.​

​

Priest put one of the pistols away, but kept the other trained on Kyra; letting the other slip back into its magnetic lock on his hip. With the same hand he reached into his belt and tossed a Datapad to her - pointing to it as she caught it;​

​

"I need you to point out the fastest way out of here, where we're likely to find your friends, and anything we might've missed. Can't have Ossus making any outbound calls now, can we?", he said once more.​

​

"And for good measure - when you're done pointing them out, you'll be taking a walk with us out of this place. If you want to save some lives, your pink friend here's included, best you get some good information. And quick."​

Objective: 1
Location: Underground bunker, halls
Equipment:

• Beskar'gam
• Beskad
• Tomahawk
• Mandalorian ripper (pistol variant)
• Blaster rifle

Allies: Soloman Priest
Enemies: Yula Perl | Kyra Perl

In the span of just a few minutes the lightsaber was extinguished and fell to the floor. It didn’t exactly fill her with all the hope in the galaxy, but it put them in a slightly better position than they had been. The odds of retaliation now were slim to none, but everything she’d been taught growing up told her to ignore that comfort. Still, she had to hand it to Soloman. Maybe he knew what he was doing after all, despite the chain of events that had led them to this point in the first place.

While he dealt with the threat directly in front of them, she kept track of those that could emerge from their surroundings at any given moment. It seemed that the majority of the fighting had quickly left the bunker, most of the personnel assuming that those responsible for the blackout had completed their objective and left before the storm descended from on high. That had been wishful thinking on her part, apparently. She’d have to have a talk with him about what getting out quickly meant before they worked together next. If they did.

“Let’s wrap it up, ‘lek? We’ve spent enough time here as it is.” Again she spoke just to Soloman, remaining a silent, faceless figure to anyone else. Still that ever-present bite to her words, one that was becoming more obvious to be part of her personality than anything really personal. Where other Mandalorians were fire, she was ice, but even that had its limits. This day had lasted too long already.

She’d need to talk with Maliphant about the rest of this Frumentarii business, once they made it out.

Communication Blackout
Halls
Yula Perl | Soloman Priest Jorii Vizsla


'No,' she tried to say. It only formed into a wheeze. She could count the passing of the time with each slam of her heart against her rib cage. She tried to will herself to focus on the warmth of the force at her finger tips. It was hard to hold onto-- hard to control. That had been the point when she had injected the spice into her veins. She slogged through that, urging the force to seep through her.

Detoxification was not a skill she had ever mastered. Classroom lessons usually weren't. She hadn't paid attention like she should have that day, but she was pretty sure the concept remained the same.

Use the force to pull the toxins out of you. Or push. Or purify. Or whatever! She wasn't looking for an A here, she only wanted-- a small gasp of relief hit her lips as clarity hit her.

It was slow. Clumsy. But the task got easier with each wave of detoxification she pumped through her core. Nida would be so p-...

Her fingers twitched as she clamped down on that thought, the only part of her to betray her recovery. 'Ugh. I can taste your stress from here.' Came the unrefined mental intrusion into Yula's mind.

'Calm down. Lie. I'm the jedi. Say you don't know.'

Yula would get the vaguest sensation that Kyra was recovering, the girl's half cooked attention shifting down to toes that she could feel with growing clarity.

One unspoken concept flittered clearly between the two.

Surprise would be their friend.

'You know any trashchutes?'

LOCATION | Ossus Communications Hub | Hall
ALLIES | Kyra Perl
ENEMIES | Soloman Priest | Jorii Vizsla

“Ew.” Yula wrinkled her nose at Soloman's reply. “Don’t say that; we’re not in bed.” A brief thought at just what the Mando looked like underneath the bucket flitted through her mind. As quickly as it came, it was pushed out by a familiar, incessant presence. Kyra.

“No, YOU calm down!” She snapped without turning around, unaware that her sister’s communication was through their shared bond, not…spoken aloud.

A few beats passed as Yula absorbed their situation. The relief of knowing that Kyra was okay put her mind at ease, but her posture continued to remain rigid, yielding to their captors.

Something rang in her mind about trash.

Oh my god, shut up, Kyra.

“Uhh…waitaminute.” Her brows arched suddenly. “You guy got in, but you can’t find your way out? Even with your fancy Mando…” One hand, still raised, waggled up and down “…bucket?” She sucked her teeth and winced. “Listen, the power’s out. A lot of these doors won’t open. And since our comms are conveniently down, I wouldn’t know about troop positions. Given what’s going on out there-“ She pointed to the ceiling as the whistle of a projectile screamed through the air, before the rumble of an explosion rocked the hall. “-who knows which parts of this building are still intact.”

A moment passed as she let her words sink in, not just for everyone else, but for herself as well.

“So take this droid, and get out.”

She pointed to Emily who was currently cowering behind her boots. “Oh, can it.” Yula grumbled as the droid squealed and bleeped in protest, no doubt unhappy at the prospect of leaving her mechanic and accompanying a pair of mechanized strangers through a war zone. “You’ll be fine.” Emily had been “accidentally” destroyed by Zak Amroth enough times for there to be backup copies. Her consciousness, should it suffer, had been reproduced a dozen times onto a dozen chips, which could be inserted into a dozen shell bodies.

“Go on-“ She nudged the droid with her foot purposefully. “She’s got the map that led us here. I literally spent most of my time locked in a closet, then crawling through a vent. I’m not exactly your best bet for a navigator.”

​

Objective I: Blackout
Allies: Jorii Vizsla
Enemies: Yula Perl │ Kyra Perl

For a moment, Soloman's beskar'gam visor simply watched her. Unmoving, emotionless, the Mandalorian offered her nothing - even through the Force. As she spoke, he'd remain still, gun pointed at her sister - but he would listen until she was done. Words on words, until finally he broke the silence - but not with his own words.​

​

A gunshot rang out as he adjusted the handgun in his hand to the thigh of Kyra - letting the bullet fire just above and the outside of the kneecap; avoiding anything critical, and nothing a good doctor couldn't bring back up to snuff, but it would reinforce the point he had already tried to make - using more compassionate means.​

​

"You don't get what's going on.", he said simply as he readjusted the gun to point dead center on Kyra once more.​

​

"Information, Jedi, that's all I wanted. I don't want your droid, and I don't want your excuses. I'm not your friend, and I'm not playing games.", he repeated as he pulled the hammer of his pistol back once more.​

​

"I don't care what you need to do - use your magic karking Force for all I care - but figure out where your friends are, and lead us out here without meeting one of their patrols. Use the damn droid, it doesn't matter, but if you give me another excuse, the next one won't be in the leg."​

Objective: 1
Location: Underground bunker, halls
Equipment:

• Beskar'gam
• Beskad
• Tomahawk
• Mandalorian ripper (pistol variant)
• Blaster rifle

Allies: Soloman Priest
Enemies: Yula Perl | Kyra Perl

This was taking too long.

The gunshot echoed down the halls, setting her instantly more on edge. There went any semblance of stealth they had left, and she was almost certain she saw the downed one move. Wonderful.

Sighing loudly enough that he could hear, she reconsidered their options. It made sense to have hostages, he had that right, but bickering back and forth with a Jedi for all of twenty minutes about the finer points of it all wasn't how that worked. Someone needed to take charge of the situation, and if he didn't have the stones to do it then she would. If anything was exemplary of the centuries long rift that had always divided their people, this was it. Some things never changed.

The aim of her ripper shifted and in the same motion she pulled the trigger, her target the droid as opposed to the Jedi before them. It removed one less unknown variable for the equation, and she didn't trust the thing to lead them out of a trash heap, let alone a base with enemy combatants. It was just as likely to lead them into a trap as it was an exit, and she wasn't a believer in taking unnecessary risks, contrary to what others might be inclined to believe.

Jorii holstered her pistol, reaching back for her blaster and dialing down the stun setting - if he wanted the Jedi to talk them out of here, that was his prerogative, but she wanted to keep them moving. With the same fluidity she'd demonstrated in shooting the droid, she sent two more stun rounds into the pair of Zeltrons before them.

Looking to Soloman, he would be able to feel the sharp coldness of her glare from beneath her T-visor. "You talk too much."

A bullet entered her upper knee, driving clarity through her in spikes of sharp pain. All her attention had been focused on detoxing the spices out of her system, she hadn't felt the force's warning.

She should have felt it.

She curled on herself, gasping in shock. This was bad, her mind echoed. She forced herself to breathe, her sweaty palms gripping at the tile. Her muscles coiled at the second shot. Heart burn and panic tore apart her chest as she looked up.

Emily smoked dead at the mando's feet. Her relief was palpable as she stumbled to her knees, her hand rising. "Stop, we'll-"

The woman's gun rose to her face. The world slowed. The force rippled in the air around her--a shimmer of energy in her mind's eye. She could see it now, as clear as she saw the weapon turn on Yula. Acid raced up her throat.

Bang.

Bang.

The shots never reached them, the force turning visible to all as it rippled like oil in water over the two sisters. Force shield. It was simple. Effective. Life saving. Her features contorted in anger, the younger Perl pulling in every ounce of strength she had as she bared down her sister's attackers.

"Eat chit." A force pulse crashed into them. Kyra didn't wait to see what it did to the metal paperweights. She grabbed her saber, grabbed Yula, and ran.

The pain could eat her up later. She stumbled around the corner and shoved the elder at the aforementioned trash chute. Her red-rimmed gaze met Yula's, sober and present. "Get in." She turned, heels swiveling into the tile. Her saber hissed to life, the warm blue light illuminating the dark hall in anticipation.

The sooner Yula jumped, the sooner she'd follow.

She wouldn't be losing another sister. Not if she could help it.