The Rapture - Protectorate Dominion of Kaeshana

[Qual'Zyanya]

"Oh, fiddlesticks, this is not classy at all. And so terribly dramatic," Valeska Saderas spoke in an upper class drawl as she looked around the thoroughly deserted and empty bar. The bar in question was located in a rather classy and opulent hotel in the Visitors' Quarter of Santaissa. Visitors' Quarter was an euphemism for the city district that was reserved for foreigners. The Eldorai generally did not take kindly to foreigners due to their history and so when the Star Queens had finally allowed offworld traders, technicians and so on and so forth to settle, a special district had been reserved for them, though in these modern and enlightened time the barriers were breaking down.



Now, however, the hotel was deserted. Looters had done a number on the place, stealing anything they could carry. Even curtains and vases had been stolen! Some looters had tried to apprehend her. It had not ended well for them. As a matter of fact, their blood was still dripping down the chin of the vampiress. She licked across her blood-stained lips with her tongue, tasting the sweet blood, before she got out a napkin and wiped across her chin. After all, even though it apparently was an 'Apocalypse' she could still look classy.


"Customer service is also not what it used to be. Not a good waitress in sight. In my time...well, it was probably just as bad! Lilith's grace, I remember Denon when the zombie virus broke out. Fear, chaos, panic...and the inevitable death and decay. Life is truly a cycle. Don't you agree?" she asked rhetorically as she looked upon the dead bodies lying around. Alas, none of them were in the mood to be good conversationalists. "Ah, well, at least it's nice and quiet. People breed like rabbits. A couple billion more or less is like a drop in the pond," she spoke before reaching into her black leather coat and getting out a tablet.


Later on she might go out and see how things were going, perhaps even investigate these strange disappearances, but for now she would translate this tablet! After all, it was written in the original Halikarnassus script. This was important because history had to be preserved! And her long, pianist fingers, fingernails coloured a bright red, traced along the tablet while she made notes here and there with a pen in her notebook. In the background the stereo was playing 'Always look on the bright side of life'.

 

[Anya Venari]

[member="Coryth Elaris"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"]

In a break in conversation, an aide came to the Queen. "Majesty, a message from lady Cadalthor."
Anya took the communicator. At this moment she was happy to hear that anyone had survived.
"Tarissa, where are you? Are you alright?" she asked. She didn't like the fundamentalist zealot much, but at this moment she'd take a familiar voice and face over more hardship.

 

[Vaena Askari]

[member="Anya Venari"]


"I am...better off than of our people, Your Majesty. Just dealt with some rioters," Tarissa responded curtly. Truth be told, she was in a good deal of pain, but pride forbid her admitting any weakness. "I thank the Goddess you are still here. I'm at the Firemane villa. There's no sign of Lady Alcori, Lady Kerrigan or Galina...their daughter. The house is littered with the corpses of dead Dark Eldorai."



Tarissa had settled down on the bed. Siobhan and Tegaea's bed. "I interrogated one of the despicable traitors. According to her Siobhan slaughtered the scum and is going after her family to find them. My guess is whatever demonic force is behind these disappearances took them. I tried reaching her per comm, but she is not responding. She may no longer be in the system." Tarissa did her best to keep her anxiety out of her tone. She took a breath before she spoke again. "What is the general situation? Where can I be of use?"

 

[Kaida Taldir]

City of Santaissa, somewhere there.
[member="Veino Garn"]



"If you want to contact your Protectorate, your best bet is to head to the palace. The Queen will appreciate any assistance...if she's still there. Goddess preserve her. We were on our way there before...," Talon Maeve suddenly stopped speaking as her eyes were pulled towards a pile of debris, keen elf ears alert before she sprung into action. "Take cover!" she called out to the Jensaarai and the Angelii, pulling one of her battle sisters down.


It was not a moment too soon because soon the flat crack of bolters was heard, with anti-personnel explosive rounds being shot towards the group, followed by explosive bolts. One of the Angelii was unlucky, alas, and an APE shot right through her upper leg, shredding the armour and utterly tearing the flesh apart. Crying out in intense pain she drew upon her Sciia, harnessing her prowess in the art of pyrokinesis to unleash a shattering blast of scalding flame and heat to engulf the traitors. Given how out of sync the Force was, the exertion seemed physically painful to her as she drew upon her heat but she did not seem to care and there was the satisfying sight of traitors being set alight.


"Return fire, Elaris, bring up the heavy bolter. Jensaarai, your chance to help!" the Talon called out, pumping out rounds with her boltgun. For their part the rebels equally returned fire with blasters and bolters. Another Eldorai loyalist died as she was blasted by laser bolts and then hit by a telekinetic blast, but then the heavy bolter was unleashed.


Amidst the onslaught of 40mm x 53mm explosive bolts, which were accompanied by a resounding boom that sounded like the thunder of a cannon, traitor Angelii were literally blasted to pieces and their cover torn apart. As traitors charged them, coming for both the Jensaarai and the Eldorai loyalists, the Talon curled her blood-covered, gauntleted hand into a fist, tearing small shards out of the earth and debris, before sending them flying through the air at railgun velocity at the attackers.



Palace grounds,
[member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="Anya Venari"]


War is hell, as they say. And nothing is more vicious or brutal than a civil war. Where sibling fights against sibling, family are torn apart by politics, neighbours who not so long ago might have been friends suddenly find themselves standing on other sides of the battlefield as mortal enemies. As is also often said, once the shooting starts, rules and ideals tend to go out of the window. No matter how much one side might have professed a desire to occupy the moral high ground and abide by the rules of law.


All too often, Kaeshana ground had been stained with the blood of Eldorai. Be it due to conflict between rivalling dynasties or within, struggles between Eldorai and Kar'zun or revolutions. None of this was on the mind of Seraph Kaida Taldir as she fought. Gradually the rebels were being driven back and she led the charge at the head of her battle sisters in the best tradition of the Angelii. It was almost ironic that she might have become the closest to the personification of Ashira's wrath that the Angelii were supposed to be, even though she did not believe in the Goddess.


But none of this mattered right now. Those Angelii and regular army soldiers who had stayed behind at the barricades unleashed a barrage of fire, spraying the rebels with a hail of bolts and shell. Lightning and fire danced across the blood and debris-covered grounds as both sides called upon their powers, sometimes successfully, at other times unsuccessfully. Kaida was thrust into the air and thrown across the field when one of the rebels called upon her terramancy to cause quakes. It was some comfort to Kaida that, though she failed to control her fall and thus got slammed into the ground rather painfully, the traitor did not have time to enjoy this success because the quakes backfired and hit her as well!


Jumping to her feet Kaida sprinted, swatting bolts aside with her blade as she ran before bashing her shield into the face of a traitor and given her a hard kick against the knee, which was followed through by stabbing her through the neck. Enemies were hewed down by her blade and then there was loud noise, insistent, heavy footfalls resounding across the ground. For a moment she feared that more traitors had arrived, but then when she could make out the armoured, mechanical shapes that were approaching, she allowed herself to smile grimly.


Mag'ladroth-class Dwarf Walker Personal Exoskeletons - what a ridiculous mouthful of a title - had arrived. Bipedal in propulsion, they were heavily armed, miniaturised walkers that bristled with firepower. A comm message reached her, stating it was indeed Ariane's Fist. "Fist has arrived, push the traitors back and surround them!" she called out. The barrels of the shattercannons the walkers were equipped with rotated, then hundreds of rounds were pumped out towards the traitors, followed by the eruption of flames as fire leapt from their flamethrowers. Massive explosions resonated across the outer palace grounds as the heavy bolters fired, tearing apart cover and fighters. One walker was gripped by powerful telekinetic force and tossed through the air into a building, but with the mechanical behemoths in play it was no longer possible for the rebels to take the palace. No quarter was asked for, nor would it be given.


Back where Coryth was, the Angelii had shown the foresight to pull the little redhead into cover. You see, Coryth Elaris was quite popular. As a matter of fact one of the Angelii had looked somewhat starry-eyed and fangirlish upon seeing her, but this was not the time to ask for an autogram.


"Seraph, we have the Yedai Elaris here!" one of them cried out, shouting to make herself heard over the noise of battle, while her battle sisters laid down a volley of fire upon the retreating enemy soldiers. Hearing the noise Kaida had her way over to them, passing temporary command over to one of her Captains. Dark Eldorai shot her way but ducked for cover when she unleashed a burst with her bolter. Finally she had reached the area where the group had found some cover behind debris.


"Master Elaris? The Queen wants to see you. You alright?" she looked Coryth over, checking the redhead for any signs of injuries. Presumably the quest to free Coryth from Sith poison and boxes of doom happened a good while before people started getting abducted!

 

[Coryth Elaris]

Pulled into cover, Coryth still couldn't help but feel lost in this chaos. It was too much for her to process. Admittedly, she'd seen battle, riots, but they always seemed so much smaller to her, less important. And this day, this moment in time she loathed where she was. The redhead was never meant to be a front line fighter, and now she had to allow for others to help keep her safe in this moment of weakness.

Word seemed to be spreading that the little Master had arrived, and she had caught a couple starry-eyed Eldorai in the grouping. It was then Kaida approached her just as Coryth was checking over the wound. "Kaida." She said with a prompt nod. "I am not badly injured, just a graze." The tiny redhead admitted, being completely truthful. "But I most certainly am not alright."

For a moment Coryth's vision blurred, the woman growing dizzy as powerful visions once more crossed her sight. It all happened so quickly that for the life of her, she could not make sense of any of it. "I'm not good to you here anyway. Not like this, just a liability at this point until I can get a better grasp of what is happening. I'm a healer, not a fighter." Coryth sighed knowing there was a battle to get back to for Kaida and she needed to go see the queen.

"Just point me in the right direction and I'll find my own way there." Determined to make it to the Eldorai Queen on her own, without escort.

[member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Anya Venari"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

[member="Anya Venari"]

There was a nod and Hastings gave a quiet, stern order. Dropships left hangar bays and headed to the planet, angling in towards friendly lines with loads of combat medics and soldiers. Comm equipment came standard with every squad, so at the very least they could piggyback off the Protectorate soldiers. It was going to take a bit longer than that, however, to get a decent amount of communication devices down to the surface.

They hadn't come armed to the teeth with comm units, after all. They'd just come armed to the teeth. Standard Omega response, really.

At a quick sprint towards the hangar, Hastings just made the last dropship and took a seat to strap his azure armored body into place.

"Be there in One-Five mikes." The man says in a chipper voice before he's launched into the void and then towards the planet below.

 

[Anya Venari]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]
The Queen acknowledged the Protectorate soldier’s comment, bowed slightly, and cut the link.

Tarissa’s message caused her concern, but she closed her eyes, breathed, let the anxiety flow from her. “Well…she’s gone now, for better or worse, Tarissa. She will never stop hunting for them until she knows what happens, so I take some reassurance from the fact that the perpetrator of this crime will soon have an enraged Siobhan Kerrigan to deal with.”
And, privately, she was glad that Siobhan seemed to have left the system. Her friend’s wrath was legendary, and she suspected that any planet where she was heading would be severely damaged by her arrival.
“What of her staff? Did they escape? What of Chesna especially?”
She did not know all that girl’s secrets, but it seemed unlikely that she’d end up killed by rioters.

An Angelii came to her. “Majesty, the Jedi Coryth is here.”

“Show her in at once. We will need her assistance.”

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Anya Venari"], [member="Coryth Elaris"]


Kaida looked rather sceptically at Coryth when the redhead insisted that she needed no escort. Well, since Kaida was wearing a rather imposing helmet her sceptical look was obviously obscured, but you get the picture. The redhead did not look hurt, but Kaida would not be letting her go to the palace without an escort.



"You're a healer, no fighter, so I'm not letting you go to the palace without protection. Traitors may be lurking in more places than on the battlefield," she motioned to three heavily armed Angelii who were standing close by, shielding them. "Host Leader, take Master Elaris the Queen. Now. Guard her with your life."


"Yes, ma'am!" the Host Leader responded in affirmative, gently taking Coryth by the shoulder. "Come on, Mistress Yedai." And so Coryth would be guided into the royal presence across the battlefield and into the palace where the Queen waited, unless her writer objects.


For her part the battle required Kaida's full attention and so she leapt into action again. "Order the phalanx to smash them. Captain Tahril, cut off the enemy's retreat with the walkers. I want none of them allowed to escape! Send a message to the Queen saying the enemy is being driven back." An explosive bolt fired by a bolter-wielding sniper from one of the upper levels blasted apart the wall near and she was peppered with shrapnel. Her armour was badly dented and kinked, though she refused to budge even as a small piece of her helmet was pierced and a shard struck her cheek. "Suppression fire! Bring up the gunships!"


Over the rubble the Eldorai and Firemane troops attacked. In dense shield walls or nimble small elite groups, they advanced, the heavy guns pounding the Dark Eldorai and driving them back inside the palace. With the walkers and gunships bearing down upon the enemy, there was no escape, just slaughter.


Kaida was so busy directing things that she did not notice a Dark Eldorai who had snuck up on her, using the manifold debris as cover. It was too late when her elf ears suddenly picked up on movement and then a torrent of lightning suddenly leapt from the fingertips of her opponent and surged towards her. The cryomancer cried out in pain as she was struck and fell to the ground, crashing into debris. There was no force shield, no elemental defences she could conjure up and so the small lightning simply hurt.


The Dark Eldorai charged, the Force building up inside her. "Liberty for Kaeshana!" she cried out. Rather than follow through with the lightning attack, she drew upon the Force as she sought to send a shattering mental shockwave to smash through Kaida's mind and reduce it to paste, aiming to conjure up her worst horrors...and then the Dark Eldorai was suddenly on the ground, crying out as if in a state of deepest agony, reduced to insanity...


Kaida looked very puzzled before she realised that a Force attack had backfired. Lesson for today: Space magic is not everything, kids, she thought to herself as she pulled herself up with a groan and advanced grimly, bolt pistol in hand. As the Dark Eldorai shook herself on the ground, Kaida raised her gun and put the rebel out of her misery by blowing her brains out. Her helmet was smashed, her skull torn apart and brain matter spread across the ground. Sometimes you just had to put your trust in an old-fashioned, 'crude' boomstick. Or a ridiculously brutal hand cannon.

 

[Vaena Askari]

[member="Anya Venari"]


Hopefully Kaeshana would not be invaded by hordes of demons now that Siobhan Kerrigan was gone. While Queen Anya might be glad about the 'chaos goddess' absence, this did not change the fact Siobhan, though very mentally unstable, was the Eldorai's strongest fighter. Without even being an elf! After all, their forces were already badly depeleted and they did not have an excess of battering rams. Then again, the fact that she was an unstable battering ram could make her as dangerous to her allies as to her foes!



In response Tarissa shook her head. "I found some of her maidens. They were hiding. But there's no sign of Chesna. I strongly doubt she was slain by rioters though. There is...more to her than meets the eye," she said carefully. One imagined that Tarissa would know a lot less about Chesna's secrets than Anya did. "I will try to rally what forces I can in this area of the city and make sure word of your survival is spread. All sorts of wild rumours have been circulating. This is not the end of days and our people must realise this. The Goddess has not left us," she spoke fervently.

 

[Coryth Elaris]

It there was one thing that frustrated Coryth more than anything, was getting an escort. Babysitters as it were. "But, I'll...Mmmm yeah.." She couldn't protest too much given the circumstances.

"Alright." She said with a nod to the Host Leader, letting the Eldorai take her by the shoulder and started to lead her to the Queen. Babysitters, sooo did not ask for this. But you need it and you know it. I'm going to tell you something and I want you to listen carefully. Okay? Go AWAY! .... Silence, so much better. Sometimes help had to be accepted and this was one of those times, even if she wanted to argue the point.

Soon enough she was brought before Anya, a woman she'd never met before to her. "Your Majesty." Coryth said softly with a bow of her head. Sticking to formalities even now. "I understand you asked for me." The reasons could be many, from Tegaea and Siobhan to something as simple as needing her powers in this time of need.

[member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Anya Venari"]

 

[Anya Venari]

[member="Coryth Elaris"] | [member="Tarissa Cadalthor"]

“Look out for Chesna and send her here if you see her, the others as well. This is probably the safest place to be at this moment. Stay strong, Tarissa, the Goddess has not left us yet. We are not broken yet, we will yet prevail,” she said confidently. It wasn’t clear if even she believed that.

Fortunately the Jedi entered, looking a bit dazed.
“Jedi Elaris, thank you for coming. I need to relate some information to you. I know you are friends of Siobhan and Tegaea. I’m not sure you know but…I’m afraid to say they have vanished. Tegaea and their daughter have disappeared, and I believe Siobhan has left Kaeshana. I wanted you to know…but I also wanted to ask you if you had any clue as to the cause of this catastrophe…as a Jedi you may know things otherwise unknown….”

 

[Coryth Elaris]

Coryth breathed in and then out slowly. Unwell was the best way she could state how she felt. A slow nod came in reply before she spoke as she carefully thought through her words. "I knew of Tegaea's disappearance but not Galina. I lost feeling of Siobhan not long after. So I suppose you are right, she's left the system in search of them. Thank you for letting me know. It confirms what I felt." As much as it pained her, there was no time for personal emotions here. There were more important matters at hand.

Coryth sighed heavily, looking for a chair in her exhaustion. Some place to sit, to rest even if momentarily. "Is there somewhere I may sit?" Asked quietly before the redhead spoke again. "I awoke in a fit of pain... agony of beings, not just here. Billions if not trillions in the galaxy all confused, fearful unlike anything I have ever felt. I've seen plagues, the death of entire planets. Nothing like this." Coryth said as her eyes fell to the floor. "Natural, unguarded empathy augmented by the force. Anyway, it was not deaths I felt. Though there were a few. It was as it someone ripped the Universe into two halves and dropped a veil between. Their voices did not fade into nothingness. They only softened and grew distant." The woman shook her head forcing herself out of her ramblings. "The people are not gone. Just ... misplaced by some power, I do not know."

Another sigh came and went. "I have been having visions, hundreds upon hundreds at once as I've lost control a few times, I keep seeing another place. The sun is green, the land barren and a deep sense of loss accompanies it. I've seen it dozens of times already. It keeps returning to my sight and I do not believe in coincidence. This is happening, coming to me for a reason in direct relation to what is going on."

[member="Anya Venari"]

 

[Anya Venari]

[member="Coryth Elaris"]
Anya nodded, wincing slightly. She had felt a disturbance, but nothing like this. She knew from Siobhan that Coryth was an empathy, and so felt the turmoil more keenly and more strongly. However, it seemed like the girl had been through hell.
Anya laid a hand on her unwounded shoulder. “I’m sorry for your pain, Coryth, but that information is useful, if disturbing. It sounds like the visions of hell my people speak of, but clearly this is not just an occurrence for the Eldorai. Do you have any more information on what it might be…or who has caused this?”

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Anya Venari"], [member="Sarge Potteiger"], [member="Coryth Elaris"]


The battle on the palace grounds was seemingly winding down. Those Dark Eldorai who had been unlucky enough not to escape were being cut down. The air was filled with streaks of laser fire and explosive bolts. No escape, no retreat. Once again these grounds had been stained with the blood of Eldorai. May it be the last time that happened...but Kaida was not so idealistic to hope for that.


The ground shook slightly as the dwarf walkers advanced into position, like bipedal behemoths bristling with firepower. A Gunship was flying overhead, both to cut down rebels that were fleeing and to provide recon. Moreover, it had also been equipped with a loudspeaker, which one of the Angelii aboard was using to urge the citzens of Santaissa to be calm and assure them that their Queen, who had been anointed by the Goddess, was with them. Kaeshana would rise again and the demons who had seized their loved ones would be defeated.


For her part Kaida was leaning against a pile of debris, getting patched up. Some of her armour had been pulled off and a medic was seeing to her wounds. Force healing was still diffcult to manifest, so they were relying more on traditional Eldorai remedies. The old stuff a cloth in someone's mouth while you're pulling out a bullet trick also worked. As did using fire to cauterise wounds. Kaida grit her teeth at the feeling and the pain, biting down hard on a piece of cloth whilst a healer worked her over.


A Host Leader came rushing over, armour battered and badly dented, face scarred, though she threw in a salute. "Seraph, we've driven them back. The rebels are fleeing." she declared, though there was no note of triumph in her voice. There was nothing to be enthusted about.


Kaida winced as a shard of shrapnel was roughly pulled out of her cheek. At least control pain worked somewhat. "Push them hard. Rebel pockets still exist in the city and they may reform. I want casualty reports and a situation update from every unit we have available. Once that's done, we'll move to the Visitors' Quarter and restore order."


"Yes, ma'am," the Host Leader said obediently, though Kaida could see that the look of resolution masked sorrow. The cryomancer had...never been good at pep talks.


"We'll find them, Host Leader. And if we can't, we'll settle for killing whatever monsters are behind this. Wherever they are." Hopefully it sounded more believable to the soldier than to Kaida because at the moment she had some serious doubts.


"We are Angelii and we are not afraid," the Host Leader said solemnly, then reached for her comm. "Command says Protectorate forces have arrived. They're inbound and will be landing momentarily."


"Good. Inform them of our status." With a deep groan Kaida got up to her feet, waving aside any words about how she should take it easy as if they were buzzing insects.

 

[Coryth Elaris]

Hell was an understatement. Coryth only wanted rest, but knew too well rest would be the last thing to come to her now. A sigh came as the Queen laid a hand upon her shoulder. "Thank you, I'm glad to have been of service. Right now, I do not know, who or what has done this but I get the feeling of an intense malignant presence but what it is I don't know. I wish, I wish only that I had more."

The redhead thought for a moment, "But ... perhaps I could try and see. I can control the visions, just it's more complicated now and difficult. I could try to bring them to me. Maybe it might bring us more knowledge that we can use."

[member="Anya Venari"]

 

[Anya Venari]

[member="Coryth Elaris"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"]

“Do not overtax your strength, Coryth, but if you can I would appreciate it. I will aid you if I can.”

As Coryth began her attempts, the Queen stood behind the short stack of fire, laying gentle hands on the girl’s temples. Into her she tried to channel some of her power to help Coryth focus. She was not especially good at it, but she had been taught by a couple of Jedi during her exile, and trying was better than doing nothing right now!

 

[Vaena Askari]

[member="Anya Venari"]


"Yes, Your Majesty," Tarissa said solemnly, new determination filling, then ended the call. She looked around the room, then sighed slightly before shaking her head. "You better come back, Siobhan. With some of your limbs left. I hope you find your...wife and daughter." After all, she did not wish either of them ill.



Presumably Siobhan would not mind if Tarissa borrowed a gun or two from her armoury! But where to go? To the palace would be the safe option, but things ought to be under control there. Presumably the Queen would broadcast to the nation soon. The people would need to hear her voice more than anything else. She would...go to Firemane Headquarters. It could not be allowed to fall into the hands of rebels or traitors. Especially not the R&D division and the laboratory of a certain [member="Elanil Saedaris"].


It was as Tarissa was helping herself in the armoury that she suddenly heard movement. Before she could respond she suddenly felt the barrel of a gun dig into her back of her neck. "One wrong move and I'll blow your brains out, queen. Who the hell are you? Turn around slowly...put your hands where I can see them." The voice was female, gruff and sounding very pissed off.


Slowly Tarissa turned around, not making sudden movements. Force-user she might be, but a bullet to the head was a bullet to the the head. "I am Tarissa Cadalthor. I am a friend of Siobhan's...," she spoke when she finally got a good lock at the woman who had snuck up on her. It was a blonde-haired, strongly-built and very muscular human woman clad in armour with Firemane markings. Duraplast, Tarissa supposed. Wait, she recognised here. "Sergeant Solveig. Now I'd appreciate you put the gun away. It makes me testy."


"Oh, Tarissa, right. Pardon, Lady Cadalthor. You're the chick who looks like Sio's dead girlfriend!"


Despite the seriousness of the entire situation, Tarissa flushed as her cheeks turned an entertaining shade of red, strongly resembling Tegaea's firemane! "I do not...I have no idea what you are talking about!" Inadvertently a small flame manifested in the open palm of her hand, before she realised what was happening.


"Hey, don't get your knickers in a twist. And put a hose on that fire. It makes me testy," Freiya Solveig retorted, though she lowered her gun when Tarissa managed to dissipate the flame. Her lack of self-control terribly annoyed her. She blamed it totally on whatever was making people disappear! "Now, you know where they are? It's fething ghost town."


"And spare the ridiculous comments. Tegaea and Galina...vanished. We don't know where. Siobhan is going after them. Goddess be with her."


At that Freiya snorted. "Poor arseholes who took her girls away. Poor kid. Her life was crappy enough. It's a fething nuthouse here. Queenie still breathing?"


Tarissa had many differences with Anya, but she still objected to the way the soldier called her 'Queenie'. You had to show a certain degree of respect! "The Queen is still alive and in control. The traitorous vermin will be wiped out and we'll get to the bottom of whoever caused this. Kaeshana will endure. Now, I'm going to Firemane HQ. You want to accompany me? It's imperative the laboratory and armoury get secured."


Freya shrugged and holstered her bolt pistol, which was really a ridiculously brutal hand cannon. "Sure. Lead the way. And don't try to set me on fire."

 

[Kaiden Rohn]

He awoke. Awoke in a state of confusion. There was shouting. People running around. A headache. A desire for pills. Why was he here? A drunken stupor or two and he had found himself on Kaeshana. On the planet. How? Why?


Questions that would be answered later. For now, Kaiden needed his pills and his drink. Six years. Six god damn years of the same routine. And his body was aging, getting older and more useless. Pills. Whiskey. Loose women. Not a lot of satisfaction. Kaiden sat up on the bed, wincing in pain. Aches and old war wounds. Tattoos were fading. Facial hair was coming more in. Hair was growing more gray.


Some nights, he wondered if the single blaster bolt to the head would be better than the four shots of whiskey it took to get him to sleep.

 

[Anya Venari]

[member="Tarissa Cadalthor"]
The Firemane HQ had suffered some considerable disorder from vanished members, but largely they’d stayed together. Their discipline and loyalty, and more importantly their paychecks, had kept them rallied to the flag.

Thus when looters and Dark Eldorai had come to try and evict the ‘Outsiders’ they’d been stoutly resisted by the remaining Firemane troops. Bolters had inflicted a wicked slaughter amongst the enemy and they’d fallen back out of range, but still waiting for a weakness.

As Freya and Tarissa’s speeder came in they came under desultory fire, but Sergeant Solveig was more than up to the task, and landed them unharmed. It soon transpired that she was the highest ranked Firemane soldier known to still be on the planet.

“Looks like I’m the boss for now,” Freya grunted. “Go check the stuff out, I’ll organise the defence,” she told Tarissa.

 

[Vaena Askari]

[member="Anya Venari"]


"I am sure your command and control will be up for it. I'll pass on word to the Queen," Tarissa said dryly, though there was little humour in her tone. This was not the time for jokes. She felt a stab of annoyance at being told what to do by a human. Sure, she wanted to check the place out anyway, but it was the principle of the thing! Even if said human was...pretty, female and...heavily muscled. Tarissa just happened to have a thing for strongly built women...alright, it was a official, she had a fetish for human dominatrixes!



Shaking her head a bit she stalked off after things had been cleared out, whilst the provisional Commander Solveig bludgeoned the Firemane soldiers into a semblance of organisation and checked out the defences. Her first steps took the Eldorai noblewoman to the Firemane HQ building. Fortunatenly, none of the mercenaries tried to shoot her and so she could complete her inspection soon. Dark Eldorai and looters had largely been repelled and while the disappearance of so many high-ranking leaders had caused disorganisation, morale still seemed largely intact. Say what you want about Tegaea and Siobhan, they hired people who knew on which side their bread was buttered...whatever that was supposed to mean. However, contact had been lost with the distant outposts across space. Some transmissions had been received from Dahomey and Vandelhelm, but most of it had been garbled. Gehenna and Bespin had gone completely dark.


No one had seen [member="Elanil Saedaris"], though shooting had been heard outside the lab. And so she made her way to the bunker that housed Firemane R&D. She was making her way to the imposing bunker complex that was fortifid with heavy turrets and cameras, when suddenly she felt...something. Perhaps it was the Force, the Goddess or a sixth sense, but her eyes were drawn to the rooftop of one of the Firemane warehouses.


Without waiting Tarissa bolted and dove for cover behind some debris. As it happened this was just in the nick of time because in the same moment as she dove there was a crack and a shot was fired, the blaster bolt shooting towards her. Luckily she hit the ground and so it missed her head, meaning that her cranium was intact, but she bit down on her tongue as she felt a very sharp pain accompanied by a searing burn from her right ear, with blood seeping out of it. On instinct her hand reached up to touch her injured ear, finding that part of it had been blown off.


She ducked just quickly enough to avoid another shot that came her way. She hit a button on her comm. "Solveig, I'm near R&D. There's a sniper on the southern warehouse," without waiting for a response she grabbed her MK1 boltgun. The weapon was strictly speaking not designed for sniping, but the explosive bolts had a wide range for bombardment purposes. She briefly looked up from her cover and, looking through the scope, squeezed the trigger. An explosive bolt leapt out of the gun towards the roof, or rather the area on it where she suspected the sniper was, causing a nice explosion.


Was the sniper dead? No way of knowing, but she quickly arose and bolted, moving to some more debris to cover her, after having tossed a smoke grenade across the debris to cover her approach. As she ran another shot came her way, narrowly missing her when she hit the ground, whilst another shot grazed her cheek and caused a stinging burn. The Dark Eldorai seemed to be switching positions as well, trying to get somewhere else as the base had been alerted, but Tarissa was not having that and took aim, firing. Another explosive bolt followed, cries of pain were heard as part of the damaged roof was badly shaken by the detonation.


But she had little time to catch her breath when suddenly she heard a venomous curse in Eldarai and found herself...lying right next to a Dark Eldorai who came at her shrieking like a banshee and wearing a belt with explosives. Too close to use the bolter, not enough time to grab her pistol, clock ticking down. Tarissa reacted on pure instinct and sent forth a violent force push. The Force...was not with her and instead of the renegade suicide bomber being tossed into a garbage can the push reflected back on her and sent her flying. It sent her shooting through the air...and conveniently outside of the blast radius when the explosives detonated and tore the renegade into pieces in a shower of limbs, guts and blood. For her part Tarissa crashed hard onto the ground, feeling like she had broken a rib or two after having suffered the telekinetic equivalent of a hammerblow.