They Fall, We Rise

[Vrak Nashar]

Athiss - Orbit
The Simus
[member="Neesa"]

Vrak stalked the length of the ship, his lips setting into a frown as he stepped into a turbo-lift.

The doors sealed shut in front of him, a low hum ringing out as the lift quickly soared up the aft of the vessel. His fingers clasped behind the small of his back, his eyes darting towards the ringing lights that seemed to flood into the lift every time they passed another floor. Eventually he shifted his gaze towards the floor, eyes closing as he focused upon settling his anger. A moment later the lift began to slow, and then finally he felt it stop.

The door pulled open in front of him.

"My Lord."

The voice of a servant rang out in greeting as Vrak stepped forward onto the bridge, his lips thinning as he glanced at open panels with loose wires and screens that seemed to be barely operational. His head shook, though he didn't comment as he moved towards the holo-map that had been positioned in the center of the bridge. The servant that had greeted him quickly followed along.

"The ship is...mostly prepared My Lord."

Vrak offered the servant a scowl, though waved for him to continue.

They reached the holo-map a moment later, Vrak studying the images that were displayed upon it. Athiss was central to it of course, several dots moving around it with a single green dot hovering by the planets moon.

"The cloaking device is operational, as are shield, weapons, and engines, though obviously portions of the vessel are unfinished since production was slowed during you...absence."

The Pureblood glanced at the Servant, though his words were no surprise.

The construction of this ship and it's sisters had begun only two weeks before his capture. It was supposed to have taken five months to complete them, but once Siedra and the others seized his resources things had slowed significantly. Even Six months later the ships had only the necessities, functioning as starcraft but barely being able to hold half of what they were supposed to. It was a problem, and not one that could be solved until he regained control of Athiss. It had been strain enough to bring the vessels this far. "Take us out of orbit. We won't have an opportunity like this again."

The Servant nodded, then quickly gave the orders.

The Simus was only one in a line of new Stealth Cruisers that was being produced on Athiss, or had been anyway. The ships had been meant to be a way for Vrak and his allies to strike out at the rest of the galaxy, but upon his capture their production had stalled. Now this vessel, the one that had been at least partly completed, was being re-appropriated for a very important task.

Killing one of the members of the Dark Council.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

A door to the bridge slid half open. A quiet curse came from the other side. Pale fingers grasped the lip and gave it a pull until it finished moving.

"Well, as long as we don't need to use all the doors if we get into a fight..." Neesa murmured as she walked in. For the first time in months she had a formal robe on. Scarlet trimmed with the gold that marked her as Sitas' Shadow Hand. She had spent so much time blending in on strange worlds, trying to counter Siedra's expanding offworld operations. The last few months had obviously been spent on Naboo, looking for cracks in the seemingly impenetrable underwater prison.

She was still an outsider it felt good to have a place again. To be marked out at a specific place in the hierarchy of the Sith. An enviable position too. One which would be far more comfortable if she could actually go down to Athiss and claim without Siedra's agents finding her.

"I've spoken to Lord Sitas. She grows desperate for that council spot. Few have the power to oppose her now. No one speaks of it, but they all know what she did to drive you off world. That she got away with deploying such a force."

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

"She didn't drive me anywhere." Vrak corrected.

Siedra had done nothing to get rid of him. Sure she had struck at him with that tiny army, but it hadn't been what pushed him away. Naboo had been the cause of his absence, not that red-skinned schutta. His head shook from side to side and he peered at the holo-map, watching as the green dot broke away from the moon and headed out towards the darkness of the system. He followed the dot for a moment, his eyes simply fixed on it before he slowly gazed at Neesa.

"Still." Vrak began as he looked towards the Assassin."Siedra will get her chance to claim the spot."

After this so would the dozen others that were poised to strike. They were perhaps not as powerful as she was, not alone, but undoubtedly they would try to band together and gain as much as they could. Many would rather not have Siedra on the Dark Council, if only because she had so many enemies.

He turned back towards the map. "Lord Baltha is currently on Ziost."

Vrak motioned to one of the servants at the edge of the room, the map instantly changing.

"He took three vessels, ancient dreadnoughts that had been hidden in this system for eons." He looked around for a second. "In theory this vessel should be enough to keep them occupied while we board his flagship."

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

"She did a fairly good job with me," Neesa added coldly. Whilst she had visited Sitas' residence on a few occasions it had been covertly. Siedra's agents were fairly well distributed across Athiss now and it simply hadn't been safe for her to operate there. She had been researching a way to try and find her thralls more easily, but as of yet it was still a laborious process to check those individually who were to be trusted with sensitive information.

"I still have a few ears in the right places however. A handful far enough away from Sidera and operating independently such that she didn't pick them up. A couple closer to her that seem to have the fortitude to resist her. That, or they are feeding us false information. So far what the two closest to her have sent has been true, but I'm weary of trusting any sudden news from them. What I do know is that she's made contact with several groups of off-world mercenaries with ships. Her main force is still around the hathell plateau and waiting for their chance."

It was a powerful force, large numbers of massassi as well as gunships and aerial troop transports. If she managed to broker a deal for some naval power she might have sealed her seat.

"Could we convince the crews of those dreadnoughts to turn?"

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

"Doubtful." Vrak said with a frown.

"The crew, perhaps." Kissai were always ambitious. "The Massassi Soldiers on board? No. They serve whoever has displayed they are strongest, and in this situation that is most definitely not us."

Lord Baltha wasn't weak, nor was he a pushover. On the Dark Council he stood right in the middle in terms of power. His army was not as vast as others, but his personal strength was well known. He was a Sorcerer, though primarily focused in the arts of Alchemy rather than destruction. He was said to be skilled with a lightsaber, though the last time he'd been seen with such a weapon in hand Vrak was still a child. The Sith was no push over, that was for sure.

This task would be difficult, though he and Neesa together would be able to handle it.

At least he hoped. "He makes this voyage every decade. A remembrance of his ancestor who once ruled this world."

This was their time to strike, their only time one of the Dark Councilors would be off Athiss and away from the others. As long as The Simus could keep the ships occupied he and Neesa would be able to board the flag and take Baltha before he realized what was going on.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

"Well..." she said in brutal honesty. “I know feth all about ships so I’m trusting that part of the plan is perfectly sound. Where do we board his vessel and how much of the crew do we need to cut through to get to him?”

Her right hand came to rest lightly upon the pommel of Thirst. There was an itch at the back of her mind. As if the sword wanted to be held, wanted to make the kill.

“I’ve spent a lot of time sticking to the shadows. A lot of time following guards around their mundane, mandrolic lives back on Naboo,” she spoke the last words with particular disgust. Ordinary people. No power to influence greater events, content to do the same thing day after day. They had not had to power to prevent their own deaths and she couldn’t even muster a mite of pity for them.

“A genuine challenge,” she said fondly. It was almost a song that both swords wanted to sing together. To meet someone worth killing.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

"We crafted boarding pods." Vrak explained, a hand reaching out to touch the holo-map. The thing flickered for a moment, stuttered, and then turned off. The Pureblood bristled slightly, his gaze turning towards one of the ensigns standing opposite him. The man sputtered for a second, then quickly dropped down and began to work on the wires and cables beneath the holo-map. Vrak rattled his fingers on the side of the machine, and then it jumped back into life.

He sighed. The map powered up once more, then quickly the boarding pod presented itself.

"Three of these will be fired at the flagship when The Simus initially decloaks." They would be right besides the flagship when that happened, ensuring that they wouldn't be intercepted or stopped before they could reach it. "In total we'll have twenty Massassi, and of course us."

Not nearly enough to take the entire ship.

"They will serve as a distraction, once we kill Lord Baltha the crew will bow." That was a given.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

"Crafted?" Neesa murmured. Sharp eyes pointedly went from the image of the boarding craft, to the mess of wires the servant was rapidly becoming tangled in. Dying of asphyxiation in a vacuum certainly wasn't on her list of preferred ways to go. Then again, it would only be a problem for a short period of time. The dreadnoughts were blocky, ugly ships. Neesa imagined picking a target out in the bland wall of grey would be quite difficult.

"Do we have any portable shield generators?" Neesa asked. Her travels had left her a little more worldly. "Could buy us extra time should we need it."

Twenty massassi could cause a great deal of trouble, especially in narrow corridors. However, if they ended up further from Lord Baltha than intended blocking off an angle of approach could make all the difference. "Otherwise I'll fetch some mines."

There was at least one thing she had managed that would increase their own fortunes rather than simply denying Siedra some gains. An entire shipment of black market weapons intended for Siedra had been stolen and sent to Sitas' holdings on Livien Magnus instead. A rather potent collection in fact.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

"No shield generators." He told her.

The sad fact of the current situation was that they were stretched thin. Vrak still had holdings off of Athiss, money, palaces, half a dozen businesses, but unfortunately none of that could quickly translate to what he needed. Those things were all legitimate, meaning they suddenly couldn't be liquidated for buying weapons and other arms lest he wanted to draw the ire of a dozen different galactic authorities.

Not something he wanted.

"We're stretched thin." It wasn't difficult to admit this to Neesa, she was already standing on the ship after all. "Something that will hopefully change when we're done here."

Once the civil war started and chaos began to reign, Vrak would once again be able to reclaim his holdings piece by piece. "For now the mines will have to do."

The deck beneath them began to rumble, the engines drawing on more power as they reached the edge of the system.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

"I'll go and find the small ones. The others have lots of legal warning messages on the cases about using them in confined spaces," she replied. Her expression now suggested she had become disinterested with the matter. She had been away from Athiss for a long time now. Away from the strict hierarchy and formalities she had become more self-reliant. More of her old personality was more evident.

"Your servants talk too much these days," she said, not even attempting to lower her voice. "For a time I started to think they were referring to me as your mistress..." her expression showed clear distaste. "...but it turns out they were referring to someone else."

Womp womp wooooomp

Neesa frowned at the noise that reverberated through the ship. A very nervous looking sith called out: "It's just the inertial dampeners preventing the jump. They'll be back online momentarily."

Neesa arched a slender eyebrow. Perhaps she wouldn't even get as far as a death in the vacuum of space. She'd heard malfunctions in hyperspace could be quite dramatic.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

He perked an eyebrow. "I will have to execute a few."

Vrak very likely wouldn't, his servants had been trained for years to do exactly as he pleased, but one thing that couldn't be helped was gossip. No matter how much you tried, no matter how much you punished, servants would always talk. That was just their nature. His father had tried to curtail this problem by cutting out the tongues of his servants, but Vrak had learned early on that it was better to let them have a little gossip than earn their ire.

Eventually it would come around. He could kill those who talked too much, but other than that he would simply have to stand it. His gaze fell to the man who spoke, his lips thinning slightly in a wordless glare that told him to get everything fixed, and soon.

"My Mistress." He smiled slightly at that, though Sera would likely argue the point. "Has been sent on another task."

He told Neesa. "She will return when the war commences back on Athiss."

She would be needed there.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

"Excellent," Neesa replied stoically. She raised an eyebrow at one of the technicians who nearly bumped into her as he rushed past. Hopefully they would be moving shortly. Timing was critical here. Small things could send everything advancing down an entirely different path. It was one of the subjects Sitas would talk about at great length.

"I may have found a few more allies around." She paused for a moment until the servant has rushed out of earshot to get a report from another bridge officer. "Didn't find an illicit lover though. I'll have to try harder next time."

A shipment of weapons and several new contacts who could perhaps be coerced to their cause were excellent gains, but they had taken far too long. They needed Siedra gone, to rally all of Athiss to the cause they both believes in.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

"Perhaps you should." Considering that his illicit lover was also an incredibly well trained assassin that was more powerful than both he and Neesa...he thought that he'd rather come out on top in that particular bargain.

Though he didn't feel the need to explain that.

"Once the Councilor is dead things will move fast." The ship once again began to rumble again, this time the engines not being impeded by the Inertial Dampeners. Vrak paused for a moment, waiting for some kind of interruption before he continued. "Siedra will move swiftly to try and secure his spot."

Likely within a matter of days. "Others will try to stop her, and if I'm right, violence will break out quickly."

There hadn't been a civil war on Athiss in centuries, but this might very well grow to that. The Pureblood was fairly confident that it was a good thing, even necessary, though in truth there was no telling how this would all end.

"We'll need to ensure we're ready." Quickly.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

"She'll make the city of Xercis into her fortress," Neesa said. It was hardly a city really, maybe fifty thousand occuoants. She was no mikitary strategist but she knew it would be very difficult to dislodge Siedra from there if she held it given her numbers and equipment.

What Neesa did was study people. Understand their behaviours and movements. Just because she had been away from Athiss did not mean she had stopped. "The holocrons she learned from and her records were quite revealing. I have studied them extensively. She seems bold, but she won't strike out until she has solid base.

"Sabotage, traitors, rebels. If we can make her feel unsafe in her centre of power once more she will be very tentative about committing her forces. Unfortunately even though the blonde one didn't post another bounty the escape from a top security prison was quite public. She likely knows you're coming."

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

Vrak had no doubt about that. He had never doubted Siedra's intelligence. She was a cunning foe, a well informed one, and unlikely to make a mistake unless forced into it. There was a reason that she had managed to survive for so long while maintaining their rivalry. She had either outwitted him or barely survived his own assaults. Her undoing would be the unexpected, surprising her was the only way that they would make progress here.

He knew that. "The Doctor."

Neesa would know whom he was referring to. Irajah Ven, the woman that she'd lead Vrak to when he'd asked.

"She was able to craft a Virus for me." He pressed another key on the holo-map. "It is a more natural variant of Bestia's power. it will twist Siedra's Massassi, break them and imprint me upon their minds."

Allowing him to more easily seize them with Battle Coordination.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

"Ah, she came through then," Neesa replied. "You've been able to test it thoroughly to be certain she didn't throw something unexpected into the mix? That one had a little more spirit than you'd guess at a glance."

Neesa felt no real remorse for whatever Vrak had done to make her complete the work - and in her opinion it would have needed to be severe to make her break her ethical code so thoroughly. If one didn't have the power to help themselves then they would always be left open to being controlled by a greater will than their own.

"Airborne? Liquid? Host to host?" she asked. There were a lot of ways to get in into the city, but it all depended on how well the virus could survive and be transmitted. Many didn't last long outside a body at all, not like bacteria. This wasn't something Neesa had ever expected to have to learn, but Siedra had forced it by developing such weapons of her own. The corner of Neesa's lips quirked upwards.

"Her own plots might end up being the inspiration for her own undoing," she murmured.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

He had discovered the trick Irajah had placed within the virus. It had infuriated him immediately, but it was something that could be worked around. Two weeks, that was what those with the infection could last. After those fourteen days passed the infected would begin to deteriorate.

It wasn't long, but long enough. "The Virus will do as we need it."

He would have preferred for it to work fully, it would have been better to have his armies be more...permanent, but for now at the very least it would due. If he could take Siedra's armies from her, force them to turn, then he would have all he needed. A small frown pulled at his lips.

"It can be injected or consumed. It will be disseminated through my contacts in the Agricultural ministry." Even in the midst of a war Siedra still had to feed her troops, Massassi especially required quite a bit to actually keep them going. Though the darkside was enough for most Purebloods, the warriors were of a different breed. They needed more energy than just the force could provide, at least for a long time.

"I just need her to gather her forces." He told Neesa. "Then we can begin."

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

"She will do that, I'm certain of it. They're currently scattered to avoid attention but she will secure Xercis before she moves out."

She looked away, towards the holomap, clearly in thought. "I'll try and find out where she will hole herself up when she feels threatened. There will be a sanctum in the city in which she will feel most secure.

"In the end, I hope she has time to see how downfall laid out before her."

Neesa's words dripped with malice. She could be a cold creature, but also a deeply vindictive one.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"]

He had no small amount of faith in Neesa's skill, but he wouldn't just leave it up to her, that would have been foolish. While the assassin was intelligent and resourceful, Vrak also knew that she was ambitious. He doubted she would try to usurp him, at least for now, he knew that she'd been building her own smaller base of power. A small smile perked at the corner of his lips, though he said nothing as he slowly shifted around the map and pressed another key.

"It won't be a concern." Siedra was foolish enough to trap herself inside when she thought she was safe. Vrak frowned for just a moment and then looked towards the viewport. Almost as if on cue the lines outside began to shift and fade.

A second passed, and then they finally jumped into hyperspace.

"We must ensure that the others are ready." He told Neesa. "Those who would oppose her."

This plan wouldn't go very far if Siedra just toppled everyone in her path.

They had to make sure someone was there to actually fight her.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

"We can't defend them all ourselves. But we might be able to ambush one of her first strike teams. She'll target some of the weakest first with the least force possible. If we wipe one out that will only serve to make her even more cautious.

"Anyway..." She looked out into the cerulean swirls of hyperspace. "...I had best go and get prepared."

She turned and headed for the door she had emerged from. She stopped in front of it and waited for a few seconds. When nothing happened her head drooped forwards. She started to prise it open. After she had gone an enterprising engineer wedged something under the from to keep it that way.