The Times, They Are A Changin... [Corellian League Rebellion of Corellia]

[Jorus Merrill]

The Gypsymoth exited hyperspace half an astronomical unit away from Corellia, and slightly outsystem. This system had five habitable worlds, all crammed into strange orbits and a broad Goldilocks zone. You could well imagine some of the early generation ships and tumbledrives launching from here, in a place where other habitable worlds were a relative stone's throw away for inspiration.

Inspiration was strong in Beyyr's mind as he threw the Gypsymoth into a hard roll. Powerful short-range turbolasers slashed past, and target lock warnings blatted on his control panel. This class of corvette relied on a powerful missile launcher array for its defense. The Gypsymoth's countermeasures rattled and whooshed as they deployed, but explosions rattled the shields down to sixty percent.

That didn't give a lot of room for error. Not when he wanted to take this sucker intact; not when his only real choice for that purpose was a pair of dual Qektoth-based ion cannons. He fired the power hogs and the shields dropped by fifty percent, right down to ten. Stray fire punched through and scored harsh lines on the freighter's canopy, but he'd fired true. That missile array went silent.

He stopped gyrating and held down the trigger. Four light-capital-scale ion cannons that ignored shields tore into the corvette's systems. One by one, the big Sith guns stopped firing too.

Beyyr maneuvered around and set airlock against airlock.

 

[Ria Misrani]

Symara's March​

​

Symara laid on the side of the road, "tango down, Frosthem verify."

SSgt. Frosthem looked through her tank's scans, "all hostiles eliminated, marking coordinates. Ashira Tower Two, you still copy?"

"Barely, Frost. We're going to boost our signal," There was silence followed by crackling and then, "there we go this is Ashira Tower Two, you read us?"

"Loud and clear, where's Alcori's Might?" The name of the second platoon. There was a little chuckle from Sgt. Matthieus who shook her head, they all knew the second platoon was still readying up and even the tower had a bit of a chuckle. "You know scratch that, tell'im Kerrigan's Fist will make light work of the road ahead."

"Easy tiger," Ashira Tower Two called, "looks like we've got some barricades ahead, contacts might be buried beneath the surface."

Lieutenant Tarriq approached the tank, "I'll verify that you bet your boots there are tunnels we'll just have to be cautious, do we have a second heavy ordinance squad?"

"Negative, Lieutenant." Tower Two replied, "just Sgt. Mattieu's and her girls, what else do you need Lieutenant?"

Symara looked to the NCOs around her all looked ahead down toward CorSec's HQ, night looming and they didn't want to take any chances. "It would be nice if we had a member of the Order to accompany us, but short on that infantry, and an engineering."

"Copy, I'll get that into Firemane Command. Ready up, we've got you." Ashira Tower Two was now several clicks behind them but as they looked ahead the first platoon nodded to each other and moved ahead. Sgt. Koyte and Sgt. Rieu's squads were sandwiched one in front of Sgt. Matthieu's squad the other behind with tanks bringing up the rear. They were fast approaching what was once a dense urban area. Symara switched to the boltgun. She was still getting used to it but readied it anyway, and as she scanned ahead she could see it. "Feth, BREAK!"

The whistle of mortar fire careening through the platoon's ranks as they dove away from it, the mortar caught into Sgt. Koyte's squad. One Sith troops emerged and began to fire, "contact, contact - man down, I repeat we have a man down!" Symara reported as she took a knee and began firing her boltgun, and steadily the troops numbers decreased. A slug whizzed by her again and another struck into her shoulder. Thankfully armor was good for soaking it, didn't mean it didn't hurt, she turned looking over her shoulder as members of Rieu's squad moved some of the tank crew out.

"Medic!" One of them shouted, Symara stood to her feet and fired off another shot before turning to see the impact of the mortar round, two down. She slid into place beside one of the wounded and swapped out for her sniper rifle. The armor they wore was definitely holding but they were still going to need medical support. From above you could see the Firemane logo on their tanks, and troops alongside the road getting ready to head into the urban area. "Ashira Tower Two, what's our status?"

"Curve right, stay frosty we haven't cleared out these buildings - head to Fire Road Four."

"Copy, we've got wounded any chance we can haul them back up to base?"

"We've got a medical squad en route to you, hold your position, copy."

"Roger that, we'll hold here until medics arrive."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

The Gypsymoth's airlock pressed against the stubborn hatch like a lamprey mouth. The teeth were provided by three boarding techs with torches. They'd also be the ones to slap a temporary seal on the breach after the boarding op was complete and the Gypsymoth broke loose. For now, however, their job was to shear through the tough hatch plating and then get out the fething way. They did so with pleasing alacrity.

A tide of boarding droids flew past, hovering. The Underground's Vendetta model carried a wide variety of lethal, nonlethal, and situation-altering ammunition. Droids flew apart, torn to pieces by dug-in Sith troopers just past the enemy airlock. Others pressed on, comfortable in the knowledge that the corvette was worth a whole lot more than them or their casualties. Vendettas weren't sentient, just a point-and-click AI with a lot of ammo options. Dumb or not, though, they swept the corridor in seconds regardless of their casualties.

Beyyr followed them in, black plastoid armor grating on any surface he encountered. This wasn't a large ship, but he and his armour had 'large' covered, thanks very much. Lucky enough, then, that when he finally put his finger on the chill he'd been feeling, the ship's lone Sith tried to outmaneuver him in the ship's command deck. With room to work, Beyyr unsheathed his Arri'Ryyk and went to town on behalf of Yugwaaargh.

In short order, the ship's eighty-plus crewers lay dead or incapacitated. The Sith was conspicuous by his absence.

 

[Ria Misrani]

Symara's March​

​

The platoon diverted to the right and into the dense urban area, bulidings of various sizes now towered over them. The manticore tanks moved in single file, Symara recognized the dangers of it immediately and moved into the lead. Using her scope to scan ahead, the medics had already picked up the wounded and were now on their way back to Ashira. At least they were until Symara heard the explosion, chit.

An improvised explosive device rocked the medic and chatter over comms was chaotic. “Evac, now!” Just before she could think to divert her platoon the building beside her suddenly exploded. “GET DOWN!” She shouted as her ears began to ring, her body was tossed to the ground she looked up and saw wounded in front of her, her hands felt for her bolt gun. Her vision was blurred even through her helmet, auto-lock for targets was on assisting her with precision.

Hands to the ground as she braced herself, she could see Mattieu's boots and the reflection of the flame, and the sounds of the Sith burning. Getting to her feet she planted them just as one Sith managed to leap over Matthieu's arc. He was greeted by Symara's hand. She grappled his throat and slammed him into the ground and proceeded to punch his face in until blood ran from it. Ducking under another trooper's attack she flipped him over off of her back planting a bolt into his chest. “Back those tanks up!” She ordered as they lifted their wounded, “Ashira Tower Two, this is Whitherfang we're going back to Fire Road One, repeat, we're backing up into Fire Road One.”

“This is Ashira Tower Two, do not – repeat, do not back up go forward, get to Fire Road Four. Fire Road One-” Communications were garbled, trashed really. Symara shook her head, “Frosthem move forward, go right through these-” The lieutenant side stepped a ricochet shot off one of the manticores and swapped bolt gun for sniper rifle. She got to the tank and leveled her rifle, looking through the scope she spotted the shooter. “We'll move forward in just a sec,” she steadied her breathing, and pulled the trigger. A sweet, sweet scene of the shooter going down, “right we move forward, and figure out what's going on with comms, what's our status Koyte?”

“Three wounded, one dead, Fire Road One is overwhelmed, can't just leave that medic squad out alone, Lieutenant.”

She nodded, “right, you stay here with Frosthem and the tanks, clear out ahead to Fire Road Four. Matthieu's you, me and your girls let's roll out to the medics.”

“Copy, and I think we've got jammers in the area probably why tower two can't hear us.”

Symara just nodded, “add it to the list, let's roll.”

 

[Leos Palle]

They made their way back to the officer's home in the dome. It was modest, to say the least. Obviously the Sith didn't pay their troops as well as they should have. Perhaps that was a good thing because it would make it easier to demoralize them. Needless to say, the place was one of the more dumpy establishments she'd seen, and that was saying something. Though, she would admit later that he did at least keep the place remarkably clean and well kept considering the condition of the structure itself. It would have almost been impressive if she hadn't known the scum that actually lived in the place.

Once they were inside, he quickly made his move, but she'd have none of it. Drawing on her powers, she made him a prisoner of his own body, stopping him from making so much as a twitch. A few minutes later the door chimed and she opened it to let in a Bothan, a Duro, and one of the local Corellian's. This was her crew. Most of them were Underground before she'd met them. Only the Corellian hadn't been, but she'd been a quick convert under the circumstances. Getting out from under Sith control was an easy motivator.

"What did you do to him?" the Duro asked, staring the officer in the eyes. "Is he even awake?"

"He is in a state of stasis. He'll be fine, sadly."

She shrugged her shoulders and walked around the place, looking for anything that might help. His ship credentials and his datapad were what she picked up. The latter was handed to the Bothan who promptly set to work cracking the encryption so that he could order them a shuttle pick up. They weren't actually in need of the officer, per se, except as a convenient ticket to their ultimate destination. She'd much rather have seen him dead, but she preferred not to kill people unless her life, or someone else's, depended on her doing so. Even then it was a struggle that brought back hard memories for her.

"Our ride's ordered. We should move," the Bothan said.

"Alright. Let's get him secured, I'd say with a blaster in his spine, and then we move."

"I've got something better than that," the Corellian said.

She produced a belt which she fit around the mans torso, just beneath his chest, and was quickly hidden back beneath his uniform. Kytra was about to ask what it was when the other woman held up a detonator switch for them all to see. A grimace crossed her face, but she had to admit it would look more natural if they didn't walk around with a blaster in the mans back, so she wouldn't argue with the methods.

"Just don't press that unless we're clear of him," she said before releasing the officer from his stasis hold. "Come along, Officer Kline. We're going for a little trip."

 

[Dredge]

Location: Beneath Coronet City (sewers)
Objective: Eat it (mass drain life ritual)
Allies: None
Enemies: Everyone

With the first opening steps of a mass drain life ritual in progress the Sith Lord let out a near erotic groan of relieved stress as he rolled his neck. With bones cracking and shifting he looked over towards the darkness with his one red eye glaring as if it were fixed on something. He soon after raised his hand and curled his finger slowly signaling for the help.

"Bring me another one." He said with his deepened serious voice.

Soon after he gave his order a Graug approached Dredge dragging a young woman kicking and screaming behind him. Tossing the auburn haired woman to the ground at the feet of the dark lord, she shivered in fear as she looked up to gaze upon Dredge. A shriek exited her mouth before Dredge silenced her by lifting her up by the throat via the force, applying pressure and making her choke.

Examining the woman for a moment he stared into as the passing moments caused the woman to kick and flail with no avail to escape her captor.

"Grub?" Dredge asked for the Graug assistant who has deposited the woman.

"Yes, My Lord?" The Graug answered back as he stared down at the floor not daring to look up at the Overlord.

"You'd save this woman if you were a good guy, right?" Dredge asked as the woman gagged again attempting to extend her arm out towards Dredge.

"Good guy? Grub no get it. Grub kill her for you? That make Grub Good Guy?" The Graug said in a very confused tone.

"You see that's what I love about you Grub, you understand your place in the world." Dredge waved his hand and soon after the woman's neck snapped adding another log to the flame that was the ritual.

Dredge then looked over to the Graug and spoke in a very cold and determined voice.

"Another."

The sword and armor that were the dark side nexuses felt the woman's energy leave her body and join the darkness. Pouring massive amounts of energy into the sigils the beginning workings were coming along swell.

[member="Halfdan"] [member="Julius Sedaire"] [member="Sam Rivers"] [member="Selinica Miriya Cailis"] [member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Taeli Raaf"] [member="Zark"] [member="Kytra Odran"] [member="Makai Dashiell"] [member="Elpsis Elaris"] [member="General Beyyr"] [member="Iron Giant"] [member="Symara Tarriq"]

 

[Ellie Mors]

I WAS A TEENAGE ANARCHIST

News of the revolt on Corellia spread faster than the the tabloids could print information about celebrities, and given her family's efforts in the past to help the people of the broken world prior to her birth it was only right that her attention had been snatched from normal system-side politics. Lily had been attending to her day-to-day paperwork, stuck behind a desk for the day, when the reports - given to her by Nadja - of the galaxy-wide signal sent through various channels, including Alliance channels that were kept open at all times, calling for aid in a revolt on Corellia. Now, Lily Kirsche Kuhn was not one for combat - not anymore, if she had even been apt for it when she was a teen under Vrag's tutelage - but she could still provide the kind of help that her parents and stepmother had given during their charity galas for Corellia, and she could help the way she knew her mother would have - with ships. A lot of them.

-

"Nadja, we're leaving for Corellia." Lily said, stepping in and out of her walk-in closet adjacent her bed while Nadja, in typical Tetan noble dress, stood at the foot of the bed, nearest the center of the room, with a look of confusion across her face. "We're going to Corellia? We?" Nadja asked, emphasizing her own inclusion in the empress's statement. "Yes, as in the two of us - and some ships manned by Krath." She replied and tossed a military-like uniform out from the closet onto the side of her bed. "But you can't fight - plus you're a newly coronated Empress - what are we going to do while the fighting is going on?" The brunette noble protested, not entirely fond of the idea of going anywhere within a lightyear of conflict between any party and the Sith. "You and I will be sitting aboard the Gauntlet. I doubt anyone is going to try to assault a large vessel unless the One Sith plans to have us as actual enemies - I do intend to avoid combat as much as possible, but we'll be relatively safe. About as safe as traveling through a cluster of black holes with a six year old, anyway." Lily countered, making explicit mention of her personal Fortress-class cruiser - one of only three produced - dubbed the "Gauntlet". "I never said going to the Tyus cluster with your little sister was safe, but I get the point. But why the Krath? Haven't we given them enough freedom?" Nadja replied. "I'd rather consider them expendable for the purposes of our aid in Corellia's rebellion rather than risk the lives of those dedicated to our system first and foremost. We'll be taking thirty Locusts in the hangar, so even if we do face engagement then we'll have some protection beyond the ship and its hull."

"Alrighty then.. I'll go ahead and forward your orders to the hangar."

 

[Leos Palle]

They met the shuttle as planned and took off. The good officer was kind enough to inform the crew that we were replacements, and would be needing new outfits as soon as possible upon boarding. He didn't mention the explosive belt that was wrapped around his torso, or the fact that he was being held against his will. It wouldn't do him any good, because the group would absolutely send him to meet his maker at that point. They only needed the ship to get them to where they were going. The rest was a piece of cake. Well, figuratively speaking a piece of cake. It wouldn't be super each, but their Bothan friend was a fantastic slicer.

As they neared the ship, she felt a sudden pang and groaned. It came to her through the Force. Something was wrong on the planet. Something was seriously wrong within the Force and it threatened to make her sick.

"What's wrong?" the Duro asked. "Motion sickness?"

"No... We need to make this quick."

"No guarantees but I'll get it done," the Bothan said.

She chose not to point out the contradiction in what he said and did her best to try and block out the feelings she was getting in the Force as the ship landed in the small hangar aboard the Corsair-class Corvette Malevolence. She was definitely renaming the thing later. The crew ushered them out and pointed them in the direction of the quartermaster's office. They promptly thanked them with a salute and moved off, Officer Kline in the lead. They entered a maintenance corridor, and the Bothan moved to the nearest data jack, plugging himself in. Kytra put Kline back into stasis for the time being while the Duro and Corellian drew weapons to cover the corridor.

Quick work was an understatement. In about ten minutes time, all of the warning klaxons went off because of a reactor meltdown protocol. He was controlling the reactor meltdown, but making it look uncontrolled, and blocking out any efforts to bring it down. The sound for general abandon ship was sounded, and the crew began to flee. They waited an appropriate amount of time before stablizing the core and coming out of the maintenance areas. Splitting into two, with Kline left in stasis in the brig, they swept through the ship at a run. Even the bloody Captain had abandoned ship. Weren't they supposed to go down with the ship?

"Nice show of loyalty," she said as the Bothan settled in at the helm.

The Duro and Corellian showed up soon after, indicating all clear, and took their posts.

"I want you three to get the ship out of the system. I'm going back down to the planet."

"What? But they'll know something's up and tag you if you fly out of here."

"I won't be flying out on a shuttle. Just get the ship to the Underground. I'll come back, don't worry."

They all wished her luck, and she left them via an escape pod. It jetted across the space between the ship and the planet, and she clamped a rebreather equipped mask on her face because of the nature of the planet below. She wasn't going to land in safe space, after all. It was a rocky landing, too. She grumbled and climbed to her feet, slapping open the hatch. Several other escape pods had been used by the crew of the ship when they'd left in haste. She'd just been a late leaver or a malfunctioned pod. The other ships in orbit were probably too busy dealing with the sudden departure of the Malevolence to deal with her, anyway.

It, whatever it was, was out there. She could feel it. With the mask clamped over her face, she made her way towards old Coronet City. Something seriously wrong was happening there. The darkness was overwhelming. The drain of life actually hurt her very existence. It was happening again. The anger within her. It had overtaken her before, but she wouldn't let it now. No, she wouldn't let it. She'd stop this suffering without killing everything in sight this time. She wouldn't let the monster win; the monster inside of her.

She descended into the sewers, feeling compelled to do so. One hand gripped a blaster, the other the hilt of a brand new, untested lightsaber that she drew from a concealed pouch inside her cloak. She had a feeling she was going to need it.

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

Cnet City - Slums
Allies: Forces of Freedom
Enemies: Ye of little hygiene...

A normal man would be quite intimidated by a massive fur covered, axe swinging, shield using barbarian. Looking all beastly with his long flowing locks and mouth showing his extreme distaste of dental hygiene. Did I mention he has and Axe, a big one too. Swinging it as my head in fact. Guess I should do something...

Bryce holds practically motionless at the archaic mercenary barrelled down on him. His intent was clear and Bryce didn't need the force to tell him what [member="Halfdan"] intended to do to the heroic ginger. Holding to practically the last second Bryce stepped to the opposite side of the one that held the rounded shield. As the shield moved away Bryce parried the blow allowing it to slash past his exposes head. Stepping further away from the charging axemen Bryce lit his saber and it came to life humming in a low sparkling tone. Allowing it to drag along the ground Bryce slashed quickly at Halfdans exposed thigh on his same side of the body he held his axe. If his strike made contact it may singe the man fur garments a little but will not cut as Bryce is still using it in his default stun setting. However, the other effects of the blade are in full effect and if successful Halfdan would feel a jolt of electricity run through his body and possibly lose sensation in the now struck leg.

 

[Dredge]

Location: Beneath Coronet City (sewers)
Objective: Eat it (mass drain life ritual)
Allies: None
Enemies: Everyone

Bodies were beginning to pile in the focusing circle at the feet of the Vong Overlord. Men, women, children. It didn't matter to Dredge, all were just fuel for the fire to come. But even though he would normally love the idea of doing something like this, part of him really didn't want to do it. Not because it was wrong or anything silly like that, but because it just wasn't fun without anyone trying to stop him. There was no race against time, no monologues, no detailing of evil plans or finding a long and elaborate way to kill the good guy. Hell, there wasn't even a prisoner to leave with one inept and easily dispatched guard. So what was the point of any of it?

Dredge was just going through the motions when it came to the ritual, a sacrifice here, a pump of energy there, a phrase in High Sith over there. It was just mildly sad but at the same time if this didn't get the good guys attention then nothing would and he'd know his spot in the galaxy was over. Maybe he'd retire and find a nice place to settle down, relax and open up an antique shop.

But as dreams of homemade lamps and blankets began to kick up they ended just as briefly as Grub reported back to Dredge with his rifle in hand and a sick smile on his face.

"My Lord! There woman entering upper level! What do?" Grub said in his broken basic.

Dredge visually perked up at that and looked over to Grub as he sacrificed another person to fuel the ritual. While he was happy to go off and murder the girl, he had to make this fun, he had to make it an experience for the child to learn that it wasn't just about coming down to slay the evil monster. It was also about having a little fun along the way.

"Send the lower Graug, if she's not strong enough to get through a few henchmen then she's not worth my time." Dredge ordered in his most authoritative voice.

With a new found pep in his step the monster lifted up a subway worker and smiled at them from beneath their helmet as he brought them up to eye level.

"Did you hear that, friend? Someone's coming to stop me! Sadly they won't save you in time." Dredge said gleefully.

"No please! Don't!" And with a quick stab from iron covered claws Dredge found a new shimmer of life in his work.

But back upstairs in the upper levels of the sewer, the woman would begin the first few steps of her journey to attack Dredge and stop the ritual. It of course wasn't going to be the easiest task for a padawan, maybe even downright impossible. But those details didn't matter, the ones that did was that in the deep shadows of the sewer she could hear low growls coming from the dark. She could smell rotting flesh stuck between the teeth from hot breath. But most importantly she could see bright yellow eyes pierce the darkness a few meters ahead of her. It was time to play the game.


[member="Kytra Odran"]

 

[Leos Palle]

She entered with caution, but perhaps not as much as she should have. There was grave danger to be faced there, of that she was confident. Each step seemed to steep her further in darkness. It was far too reminiscent of her last encounter with a darksider, and that scared her enough that she actually started to tremble a bit. Yes, Kytra felt fear. Fear of herself, though, not of the darkness outside. It was the darkness within that scared her.

As she walked she became suddenly aware of the presence of others, especially due to their eyes. Immediately she thumbed on her lightsaber, igniting a yellow blade that illuminated the large creatures. She grimaced, but she knew she was going to have to fight them. These weren't locals trying to survive, but creatures that practically reared of evil.

The first one came at her and she lifted a hand, dousing it in Force energy that stopped it in its tracks. Stasis was how she normally avoided killing people, but in this case it served the practical purpose of limiting the numbers of opponents she would face at a single time. Another came at her and she ducked to the side, using the frozen one as a shield to draw the creature around at a disadvantage before she cut its legs out from under it. It wasn't a kill shot, but she was honestly trying to avoid killing them.

The one she cut down tried crawling towards her so she removed it's arms with two downward swipes of her blade. This just before she was tackled by the third one. A whoosh of air flew out of her lungs as she was slammed to the ground. Intense pain flared through her body, and she felt nauseous, but she struggled anyway. The creature had her arm pinned such that she couldn't move her lightsaber and the other arm was lifting a fist ready to strike.

Releasing her blade, she gripped it with the Force and flung it forward like a spear, the blade burrowing through the creatures skull before she deactivated it. When the Graug fell off of her, she struggled back to her feet, feeling irritation I. the left side of her chest. It wasn't broken, but she was sure she had some bruised ribs now. The last creature was the one she'd put in stasis. She didn't want to kill it, she really didn't, but if she left it alive it would come after her eventually.

"I am sorry. May you rest in the gentle embrace of the Force."

With thay, she removed it's head. The one that had lost its limbs was slowly dying from shock so she put it out of its misery before she turned to continue on, her lightsaber held out to the side. Tears ran down her cheeks as she walked. Tears at the unnecessary deaths.

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Alkor Centaris]

Location: Coronet City
Objective: Slaughterhouse Rules!
Allies: Mercked out to the Corellian kiddies.


Alkor grunted as he squeezed the trigger. Brains and blood splattered. He reached up and wiped the viscera from his visor as he watched the life flow from his victim, the slug still embedded in its skull. "Disgusting." He ripped the buy'ce from his head, stared out at the world around him, and he took in the air of his homeworld for the first time in many years. The world was so different, reddened by a haze of death and destruction and seeped in a darkness not quite like what he had become accustomed to in his years as a Dark Jedi. These Sith had consumed the crown jewel of the core worlds with their atrocious obsession with passion, power, and victory. "Absolutely disgusting."

He did not need to turn to see another of the zealots rushing toward him. Alkor lifted the weapon level with the creature's chest, and he let out a ragged breath. A scream left its throat and the world trembled at the thunderous report of his shotgun. The man was flung backward by the impact, and it hit the wall in a violent splash of crimson tempered with flecks of its own matter. They're not even human anymore. They're dispossessed of their free will.

That was what he felt as they died. There was a sensation of overwhelming relief more than woe-ridden loss. It was as though his victims had died long before they reached his gun. "You were born on this world, weren't you?" The voice wavered from static, but Alkor heard the message with resounding clarity. "How does it feel to be home, and to see it this way?" Alkor shifted his gaze across the warzone, and he considered the fallen. "Do you pity them, the victims in this war?"

"No," Alkor replied without hesitation. "This is the nature of war. They sought freedom, they knew the risk."

"And yet, it would never have come to this if the Sith had been stopped." The exile found his eyes resting on a man still breathing, though he could feel the thread of life stretched thin through the Force. Alkor slowly made his way over. "None of this would have happened if only-"

"If only we lived in a sane galaxy," Alkor replied as he cut the feed. "We don't have that luxury. We never will." He knelt beside the man, and clouded eyes turned to gaze back into his. "What is your name?" he asked the other man. It was a simple question, but the manner in which he spoke it made all the difference. There was a smile on the lips of the fallen hero.

"A Corellian," the man gasped, "in my last moments, I feel the hands of one of my family."

Tears streamed down his face as the man ripped with spasms. His body shivered and tensed as he reached up, and his hand touched Alkor's cheek. The Demon of Corellia felt his fingers caress his flesh and the life slip slowly away from him. In his arms, the Corellian left the world of the living. Alkor watched as the spirit fled from its mortal prison, eyes beset with conflict. "Family."

Family.

Alkor laid the man down to rest, though he would bear him somewhere more peaceful when the war was won. "Hey- hey! Osik, Centaris, you can't flip the channel off while I'm coordinating your bloody movements. How are you going to find your way around in the dark?"

"I can manage," he snorted. "It was important."

"I saw him."

Alkor said nothing. "You went to oversee his last moments?" the voice inquired. "Here I thought you had no patience for sentiment."

"You care to join him?" the Mercenary did not let emotion leak into his voice. The squeak that came from the other end was enough to tell him that he'd gotten the point across. "Didn't think so."

 

[Dredge]

Location: Beneath Coronet City (sewers)
Objective: Eat it (mass drain life ritual)
Allies: None
Enemies: Everyone

Oh it was in the air now. The stench of the woman's fear, her internal strife and tribulations, the fear of taking life. Dredge could sense all those little emotions and they were absolutely beautiful, there was good and it was coming to stop him. So this gave Dredge a few ideas on how to break the girl before she even got to him, how to make her suffer and question her own internal core values of what it meant to be a Jedi. While Dredge did enjoy the good in the galaxy, he loved twisting it so they could feel the pain he did.

So he ordered that a few of the prisoners be sent up towards the upper tunnels where they would be set up to play a little game, something that might end the little Jedi's campaign before it even truly began. Something that would horrify most people.

"Oh I love my job!" Dredge shouted as he continued the ritual drawing power to him and the circle at large.

When the Jedi began to move on she'd begin to feel it, the darkness calling to her, the power it held, the passion and fury it could give her. It grew more and more intoxicating as she drew near it, a wave of temptation that would speak to her inner demons. A voice that would whisper to just give in, to submit to all those emotions, because it felt good, it felt right. This was what the dark side promised, and sometimes even gave.

But as she would make her journey into the sewer she'd come across a very disturbing sight as light illuminated the tunnel and ahead of her were eight Graug standing there with fully automatic blaster rifles, four of which were trained on her. The other four had their weapons pointed towards the skulls of innocent men and women, and soon a low voice would whisper to the woman.

"This can all end right now. I'll pack up and leave, I'll end everything. All you need to do is kill them, all of them." The voice slithered into one of her ears with its snake oil tone.

[member="Kytra Odran"]

 

[Leos Palle]

Location: Beneath Coronet City
Objective: Stop Dredge
Allies: None
Enemies: [member="Dredge"]

Indeed she did feel it. It started to press in around her on all sides, weighing heavily upon her mind. It was just like the time before. She paused and leaned against a nearby wall, one hand holding her away from it as she took deep breaths and did what she could to focus on the here and now, rather than on the past. It was difficult. Memories kept flaring up of seeing Rara deliberately slaughtering and torturing her fellow Lorrdians. The images of what she'd done to so many of Rara's people were there to, and she felt the contents of her stomach lurch into her throat. She leaned over and vomited bile until she could no more, and then wiped her sleeve across her face.

It was too much, but she had to do this. Nobody else was there. Nobody else was coming to stop this. It was just her against whatever monster was waiting for her below, the one swallowing lives as if they were nothing but a snack.

She pressed forward, moving further and further into the depths in search of the source of the darkness that was pressing on her. Before she could find it, she found more of the creatures she'd faced moments ago. Too many of them. Eight of them. And worse, some had their guns trained on innocent civilians. She didn't care if they killed her, but how could she let them kill the innocent? The voice in her head was whispering sweetly, acidic words, tempting her to give in to the darkness as she had that time before. But she couldn't. She wouldn't. And then the other voice came, the real one. The voice of the monster.

Kill them and end it.

Could she do it? Could she really kill these innocent people in the hopes that it would end the suffering of others. Part of her screamed at the very idea. Another part thought it was rational. Sacrifice the few to save the many. The galaxy wasn't black and white. You couldn't always save everyone. Failure was inevitable if you tried. If he was sincere, these few could be sacrificed to save countless others. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked at their pleading faces. They didn't want to die, but she knew the truth: no matter what she chose to do, it was almost guaranteed that these people would die. If not by her hands, then by the hands of the beasts with weapons trained on them.

"No."

She said the word quietly, drawing the Force into herself. She could feel the monster, pressing forward from within the depths of her being. It was calling to her, the darkness. Wanted her. The drawing of deep strength from the Force threatened her soul, but she had no choice. Enduring the call was necessary. She would tempt the darkness in order to face the demon. He had to be stopped, and she didn't believe he would be true to his word. He just wanted her to fall. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction.

In a sudden blur of movement, she thrust both of her hands forward, releasing the Force in a powerful wave of energy as she screamed in anguish. It wasn't strong enough to directly kill any of those in the way, but the Repulse could at least by her the ability to close the distance and try to cut as many of the Graug down as she could before they fired on the innocent civilians. If she even saved one of them it would be worth it to her. If she got shot, it would be worth it to her. If she died, at least she tried to stop him and refused to give in to the monster beneath her skin. If she survived, she'd continue to come for him. All monsters had to be stopped.

 

[Dredge]

Location: Beneath Coronet City (sewers)
Objective: Eat it (mass drain life ritual)
Allies: None
Enemies: Everyone

The force blast was enough to send the first row of Graug flying backwards ramming them against walls and onto the floor. However being almost as strong as a wookie the wave with hostages were able to weather the storm of energy. So they made her watch, they made her watch as they riddled the men and women with blaster bolts from their rifles. And just like that it was over, they were gone.

With the prisoners executed and the bodies laying at the feet of the Jedi, some of the Graug began to recover and rev themselves up to kill the little Jedi. Eight Graug against one padawan was going to be a massacre, but as they loaded and pointed their weapons that same voice could be heard rumbling in the deep.

"No. Give her vengeance." The voice said as the Graug were about to shoot.

Giving a nod the monsters dropped their weapons and circled back to stand in front of the Jedi. They had their orders from the dark lord and while it was irresponsible to throw good men away, Dredge cared more about the game than anything else really. Now was the time to play and with the girl more than likely emotionally compromised she'd give, she would have to. Maybe it wasn't the full fall towards the dark side, but it was a step in the right direction.

"Do you know how long these tunnels go for? So many twists, turns, dead ends. A maze really. And you are running out of time, the ritual is nearing completion, soon Coronet City will die once more and there will be no recovery, no rebirth, only death." The voice lingered for a moment.

"Kill them, take vengeance and strike down these murderers. End them and you'll get a one way ticket straight to me. Use your hate, your anger, your rage. These are very bad men, child. Very very bad men." the voice chuckled slightly before fading out of her head leaving only the presence of the dark side and the negative emotions around and within.

Dredge was a man of his word, when he made a deal he honored it. The only problem was that doing so took sacrifice, compromise, and most of the time someone had to sign it in the blood of others.
[member="Kytra Odran"]

 

[Leos Palle]

Location: Beneath Coronet City
Objective: Stop Dredge
Allies: None
Enemies: [member="Dredge"]
Theme: Klaypex - Let It Go

Though she sent the front line back, it wasn't enough. The rest stood their ground, and then opened fire. All of the innocent civilians died. Right in front of her. She couldn't even save one of them. The tears continued to fall and she fell to her knees. Tears streamed down her face as she cried audibly. Failure was bitter. Worse still, they had her dead to rights. She had her saber, but they had fully automatic blaster rifles. She could deflect quite a few shots, but she wouldn't deflect enough of them. She'd be riddled, dead, lost and forgotten with so few to even know who she was. Who would even think to come looking for her? No one. She'd just be gone.

She hung her head, prepared for the shots, but then heard him, the real Monster, tell the creatures to let her be. Taunting. He was taunting her. Just like Rara. He was no different from the monster she'd killed as a child. It was her past all over again, and she was angry. Angry and afraid. The monster was breaking through her defenses, bursting at the seams to escape from her. A thin shell grew thinner by the moment. How long could she keep it at bay? Should she even try?

And then he said the magic words. She could get to him if she killed these creatures. The ones that had just slaughtered the innocents. Under orders or not, they'd still done it without objection. That made them culpable. It wasn't vengeance. It was justice. Sure it was vigilante justice at best, but it was warranted. They were murderers and she'd witnessed it. As one of the good guys, she was obligated to do something about it. They wouldn't be imprisoned, and she didn't have the time for that anyway. Death was truly the only suitable punishment for them. Vicious death. Like before. Like back home, when she'd killed Rara and his people.

"No. No, it's not vengeance. It's justice."

She looked up, no longer crying. Her eyes were somber and her facial expression hardened. Rising, she reached through the Force and gripped one of the Graug, yanking him forward towards her and impaling him upon the yellow blade she held in her hand. She stared over his shoulder at the others. One down, seven to go, and the monster was still in check, but only just. Viewing this as justice, not vengeance, was the only thing keeping her from cracking. She had to let go of the anger. Let go of the hate. Dispense justice.

Pulling her blade free, she shoved the dead Graug to the side, hefted her arm back and slung her saber at the next Graug, who took it full to the face. The blade went all the way through him, only the hilt stopping its momentum. The length was sufficient to pierce the head of the one behind it, as well. Running forward, she called the blade back to her hand and then unleashed a wave of the Force to slam two of the other Graug into the nearby wall. It would only stun them for a moment, but they weren't fighting back anyway. She didn't care, she was thinning the herd as quickly as she could.

A whirl of motion and she lopped one in half at the waist before bringing the blade down in a slash that cut from shoulder to hip on the next one. Another fell when its head was removed. That left the two she'd slammed into the wall. Reaching through the Force, she lifted them just enough above the ground that they couldn't stand, and then she cut off their legs, then arms, and finished with their heads. It was brutal. Brutal beyond necessity, but it was done, and it was deserved. Justice had been meted out.

"Now tell me how to get to you so I can kill you! Or are you afraid to face me?"

Her words were shouted through the tunnels. She knew he'd hear, just as he'd spoken to her.

 

[Veino Garn]

Ally: [member="Kytra Odran"]
Opponent: [member="Dredge"]
--------------

Veino glanced at his comm as a set of coordinates appeared from Julius. He broke into a run, pushing his way through the crowd as his coat flapped behind him. He had to get to Julius. Help make things right here, for an old friend's sake. He caught a clear view of the situation as Julius faced the soldiers, harder and darker than Veino remembered. Enemy occupation did that to a man. A guerilla war did that to the best of them. It'd certainly done that to Veino. He was about to stride forward when darkness pulsed through the Force.

He stopped and closed his eyes, reaching out with the Force. A great Darkness was building in the sewers below the city, and the presence was familiar, but not one he had run across in years. But still, very few Sith could conjure a Darkness this thick. Odium. Dredge. Vornskr. Had to be one of the three, although he couldn't fathom why any of them would be on Corellia. Word on the street was that Vornskr had fled to Panatha. Odium and Dredge had disappeared, as far Veino knew, but he didn't have regular access to Alliance or Underground intelligence files anymore. So who knew where they were? Maybe they were having one wild Dark Side rave party down below, for all he knew.

But his duty lay there before it lay in an insurrection against a dying army. He gave a quick salute to Julius and broke down an alleyway, dropping to his knees. A manhole cover lay there, rusted and old. Veino closed his eyes and reached out with the Force, rotating the metal disc. It creaked in anger at being moved, but soon twisted free. Veino grabbed it and pulled it to one side, letting a stench of waste and Darkness roil up into the alley.

Veino grimaced, but slid into the hole, landing with a splash in stuff he had no desire to inquire about. But he seemed to spend a great deal of time in sewers by now, even the famed sewage tunnels of Coruscant itself. Now Corellia. He grinned at a thought that struck him. Soon enough, he'd be able to write a guidebook to the sewers of the galaxy.

The Freedom Fighter's Guide to the Sewers of the Galaxy or some other such title.

It'd sell millions, undoubtedly, and start a new sub culture of sewer delvers. What a legacy that would be.

But he brought his mind back to the task at hand as he strode through the darkness. It lurked about him, whispering in forgotten languages and hissing softly. But the darkness began to fade slightly as he walked. The sewers almost took on a silvery look, which caused Veino to frown. He stared around, suddenly catching the source. The light came from the innumerable scars that traced their way across his body, marks from dozens of battles on as many worlds. They glowed with a faint light.

He frowned at the sight, guessing it to be another of the Netherworld's side effects, but shrugged as he continued on into the tunnels. He could sense the heart of darkness, below and some distance away. It reeked with malevolence and a mad joy. Now he really had no idea who might be down there. That didn't matter though.

Veino settled himself in the Force, wrapping it about him like a cloak of shadows, to disperse his Force presence. Not as well as he had been before the second trip to the Netherworld, but perhaps it would help some.

There was no sound as of yet but his booted feet splashing in the fetid liquid that pooled at the bottom. Then blaster bolts echoed through the tunnels, faint, but not terribly distant. Veino pressed himself against the wall, holding his breath, but nobody seemed to notice him yet. He splashed forward, more quickly now, taking a small side tunnel that wound its way downwards. Best to bypass those blaster bolts.

 

[Iron Giant]

Freighters were not ships designed for combat or fast maneuvers... especially not ones specifically catering to a species biological needs over more sensibly profitable features, like extra cargo a bigger engines for a quicker commute (or get away, depending on the venue of work you're going for).

Any ship with a name like 'Boneshatter' wasn't going to be a chump like that by any means, and with its military maneuverability and impressive forward fire arc, in any sensible battle the Resu's little 'scuffle' with them was over before it even began. Not a single ship even had a blaster on it. So when this convoy of about four Resu-Class Freighters (definitely not the prettiest ships) happened on a Boneshatter Assault Frigate on the outskirts of Corellia, that 380 meter long ship gave a lackadaisical turn, as if curiously inspecting these four new "bogies" on their radar with a sort of amusement they haven't had in a while. The usual audio chatter would open up between the Sith ship dutifully patrolling the system even as everything else seemed to be falling apart, issuing the intruders a five second warning before they would start blasting them out of the sky if they didn't turn heel.

The CybeResu obviously didn't bother listening, and not only did they keep course... they really kept course... like, we're going to ram into you if you don't shoot us out of the sky, keeping course. Eventually the Captain of the ship (probably eye rolling in annoyance), steered the ship properly facing the convoy with the full power of its Ion Cannons and Heavy Turbolasers. Two ships broke formation, appearing as if they were attempting to flee, while the other two remained stalwart even as their pitiful civilian shields were rendered inert by ion fire, and their hulls were poked full of Heavy Turbolaser holes, freezing over as water vapor is poured out into open vacuum. The Boneshatter true to its name, just obliterated half of the convoy in a manner of seconds... except they weren't expecting the full strategy the CybeResu had in mind. The two freighters which had broke away, returned again, and seemed to be coming at the ships from either side... this served as an excellent distraction as a dozen CybeResu from the destroyed freighters hurtled through space towards the Boneshatter while it made a decision to turn one way or the other, giving a wide berth by which the space jumping cyber fish could land upon.

Completely bypassing the shields, Iron Giant and her CybeResu companions magnetically clamped down on the surface of the Boneshatter one by one, and marched not to the hangar, but to the bridge...

(Post 2)

 

[Keira Priest]

Location: Coronet --> sewers
Allies: Corellian League, etc.
Enemies: Mostly [member="Dredge"].

Of course she felt it. It was impossible not to, especially for one so well attuned to the dark, not to mention the presence of the one responsible. Dredge was one Keira had survived far too many encounters with, having suffered at his hand more than enough to become attuned to his particular brand of darkness and malice. It turned her stomach to know he was here, defiling her homeworld. His existence alone was enough for her to want him dead, but the fact that he was here multiplied that tenfold. There were very few people she genuinely, wholly and truly despised in the galaxy, and he was without a doubt one of them. Nothing would satisfy her more than to see him burn for everything he'd done or would ever do.

"Julius, change of plans," There was no time to gain his approval or wait for a proper response, and at this point she was just giving [member="Julius Sedaire"] a friendly warning not many received, "I'm heading down to the sewers. Long story short, there's someone here who's better off dead, and I'm the most qualified to make sure that happens. If something goes wrong, don't wait up for me." Now wasn't the time for anyone to play hero or waste their efforts on something unimportant, and the last thing she wanted him - or anyone - to do was get involved in personal business such as this that didn't concern them. It was best to let her deal with the unknown dangers. Let the rest of them focus on the bigger picture.

"There's already someone else down there." That was the last thing she wanted to hear. "Who?" In the next second she felt it plain as day, and a frustrated sigh hissed between her teeth. "Jedi. Great." In her mind this didn't concern them, and another part of her didn't want any unnecessarcy casualties, regardless of what form they took. The other was just a liability at this point, which was the last thing she needed. It was best for her to go into conflicts like this with no attachments immediately present. "I thought you'd be impressed." All she could manage was an unamused scoff. "I'll just deal with it. Keep an eye out for anything else and update me on anything important topside." It was what it was. "Understood. Be safe, will you?" There was no response, and she only dropped downwards into the sewers.

Instantly the night-vision of her HUD activated, illuminating everything in a murky green glow from inside her helmet. Her senses extended outwards instinctively, and when she didn't detect anything immediately worthwhile she began moving forward with some caution, fully expecting an attack at any time. When one didn't come within the first few feet she was only set more on edge, knowing full well there was something waiting for her. This simply wasn't how he played the game. It took a few minutes of walking for her to happen upon anything of interest, but when she did find the fight she'd been looking for a part of her wished she didn't know quite so well how he operated. The roar of a number of Graug sounded as they charged or in some cases lumbered from the shadows.

Instinct took over as she rolled to the side, transferring momentum so as to keep herself a fair distance away in order to arm herself and decide the best way to go about things. Her tomahawk - Akaa'gai - was held in a loose grip, and she spun it once, "Are you going to take me to Dredge, or are we going to do this the hard way?"

 

[Dredge]

Location: Beneath Coronet City (sewers)
Objective: Eat it (mass drain life ritual)
Allies: None
Enemies: Everyone

The voice let out a dry little laugh at the woman's words. Her take on what justice was and how he could feel the anger within her rising and bubbling just bellow the surface, ready to explode like a long dormant volcano. Whatever the woman wanted to say that was, Dredge would break her of it, he'd break her of these silly notions that she was any better than the rest of them.

"Justice? Justice for the dead? Ha. That's a good one. We both know that you didn't kill them for justice, you killed them for revenge, because it felt good. You were hesitant to even kill when you first walked in, now look at you, cutting down unarmed men like you've done it before. Simply beautiful." The voice said in its same snake oil of a tone.

"I could taste it on you, the hate, the anger, the rage. Why do you hide it? It's what makes you human." Dredge asked as he kept pouring dark side energy into the ritual.

With a good majority of the hostages dead and only a handful left the Jedi would have a difficult time with what was laying ahead of them. But for now a deal was a deal and Dredge would honor his half, she struck his men down and she earned the right to go and see him.

"Take a right and the ladder on your left will lead you down to my little crash pad, the guests will be waiting for you." And with that Dredge metaphorically hung up on the woman to focus his power to another area.

[member="Keira Ticon"] was a name he hasn't heard in a very long while. A person who he had tortured, beaten, and broken down to the point of nothingness. While the little Jedi had to go through the loops and rings to meet Dredge, Keira had a VIP pass right to the man. After all that's what friends did for each other, they helped one another.

"Oh Keira my dear, of course of course. Come on down, it's so nice to see you again. You know the last time I saw you, you were being dragged away by some equally broken clone troopers. But look at you, got your big girl pants back on and you're charging once more into the breach. Tell me, what do the kids think about this?" he said making sure to stress the fact that she did indeed have children that he could most certainly get to, and she knew it.

Regardless everything was set, and the game was ready to be played. Even the uninvited guest lurking around in the shadows would arrive in his layer and the fun times would roll. Patience was key now.

[member="Kytra Odran"] [member="Veino Garn"] [member="Keira Ticon"]