Triffis Drifters [CIS Dominion of Triffis Hex T-41]

[Paragon of Virtue]

As the reactor of the Fortressa became malfunctioal, a loud message was heard all over the speakers aboard the Fortressa.

WARNING. WARNING. FORTRESSA REACTOR DOWN. ESTIMATED TIME BEFORE CRASH ON TRIFFIS. THREE. HOURS.


WARNING. WARNING. FORTRESSA REACTOR DOWN. ESTIMATED TIME BEFORE CRASH ON TRIFFIS. THREE. HOURS.


WARNING. WARNING. FORTRESSA REACTOR DOWN. ESTIMATED TIME BEFORE CRASH ON TRIFFIS. TWO. HOURS. FIFTY. NINE. MINUTES.

 

[Darth Metus]

Attn: [member="Srina Talon"]​

Nearby: [member="Lirka Ka"] | @Allya Vi’dreya | [member="Larentia"] | [member="Alwine Lechner"] | [member="Gerwald Lechner"]​

I am an Empty Vessel.

When the Jedi first heard those words, they were during a much more peaceful time. The Galaxy, for the most part, was enjoying the silence which came after the fall of the old Sith Empire. As the undisputed power of the stars, the Galactic Republic had no need to disperse its lightbearing warriors upon any new foes. During that time, Josiah Denko had the opportunity to rest. And moreover, the opportunity to learn at the feet of his Master. It was a warm afternoon, not unlike the one on Triffis this day, where the young Jedi stood before Grandmaster Darron Wraith. The living legend always regarded his pupil with a stern voice, but there was kindness in his azure gaze. He was as much a warrior as he was a man. As much a weapon as he was a protector.

That afternoon, Master Wraith introduced himself to the words. “I am an Empty Vessel.” The mantra was meant to clear the mind of all that would distract the warrior in battle. To, for just a moment, remove all that was Josiah Denko so that there was a void in his being - a vacuum that would be filled with the Force. In this state, there would be absolute clarity. Absolute purpose. And as the Jedi stood against the automaton horde, the mantra formed and fell from his lips. The roar of the podracer engines exploding became dull upon his ears. The cries of the citizenry began to quiet. The iconic hum of blaster bolts flying past were silent. Josiah became the Empty Vessel.

And he was filled with the Force.

His movements were fluid. Swift. And mighty. His golden blade danced a ballet of decimation as he navigated through the rampant droids. In one move, he cleaved a B2 Super Battle Droid clean in half. In the next, expert telekinetics hurled the remains of his victim into its comrades, knocking them aside. Every step had purpose. Every move flowed into the other - with no end or punctuation in sight. The only thing which commanded his focus was the goal: Destroy the Droids. He was empty to all, and the Force guided him to fulfill this purpose. Seconds flowed, and with each that passed the Jedi decimated yet another Droid. There was no interruption. No conclusion to the Focus. N- Static. A broken transmission erupted into his ears at such a volume that it caused him to blink. For but a moment, Josiah returned to himself. He recognized the voice which spoke as the Exarch [member="Srina Talon"].

And with a momentary squint, he strained his ears to make out her words. Virus...Stadium...Overrun… The reality that she warned of, the Jedi was already aware. However, what concerned Josiah more than anything was what he managed to hear over her words. Blaster fire and the rush of podracer engines. Was she… His golden blade moved suddenly, amputating a droid that got too close. He followed this swiftly with a sweep of the Droid’s legs with his saber, eliminating its threat potential. Turning, his gaze quickly scanned the Track-Turned-Battlefield, and in the far end he could make out an alabaster figure among the smoke. His teeth clenched.

His Focus changed.

Though he had never personally interacted with the fabled Dread Queen, what little Josiah knew about the woman assured him that she would survive. She was an Echani - a warrior by birth and trade. But moreover, she was the apprentice of a former colleague. If nothing else, he would have certainly shown her a thing or two. But as an Obsidian Knight, Josiah had a duty to protect those whom guided the Confederacy. It mattered not if she were the lowest Viceroy or the seemingly immortal Darth Metus himself - his blade would always belong to them. First. Such was his duty. Therefore, as his mind emptied itself of all distraction, Speed seeped into his bones. He broke into a sprint, changing the tempo of his lightsaber’s movements to be purely defensive. The golden blur deflected bolt after bolt, until the Jedi came to a halt at the Exarch’s flank.

”Exarch Talon,” he called over the noise. ”Knight Denko at your service. I’m here to get you to safety.”

As if to add credence to his presence, a wall of telekinetic fury shriek from his hand - battering down the most adjacent droids from within firing range.

 

[Rashae]

Communications became a cacophony of noises as they addressed the variety of reports and coms. The exarch's com came in a little broken but mostly clear. Rashae walked over to that side of the command room as she nodded for them to respond.

“Minister Rashae Lovous here at your service Exarch. We took some precautions already but we will tighten up. Do we need to route an evac to your location?” The officer that was sitting there sat very still as she took over the answering of this particular communication.

Rashae turned to the officer over this department. “Get with computer science. Certain systems are local so already locked down but no holonet. Fortressa channels are compromised. Continue monitoring and secure what channels we use. No droid signatures allowed through those channels. “

The officer nodded as she provided a suggestion. “We could create a self contained local net that can allow those channels in, get that sample tech boys need. “ She suggested.

Rashae lifted an eyebrow as she looked at the officer. “Good idea. Get it done on the hangar deck. I want it done like yesterday.

Then another communications officer would call out. “The Fortressa is on alert. It will fall from orbit in 3 hours. No 2hours 59 minutes. “ All eyes went to Rashae.

She straightened up as she looked at the slightly tilted orbiting ship. “General ship alert, All hands on deck. Get that local shielded network up so we can gain a sample of this thing. NOW! All of computer science needs to be on this issue.. All of them. “ She ordered as there was several scrambled individuals to deal with those orders.

Meanwhile down on the surface the corvettes would attempt to land out of the way. Speeders would exit the corvettes with the same red and white plus sign to reach trapped and/or otherwise unreachable victims. It was fairly quickly assessed not to allow their droids out and not to allow any in. creating a perimeter to keep the medical evacs safe was a task. A couple of the corvettes who was being particularly targeted would call for any land help they could get to secure their position so they can provide medical care or evac as necessary.


[member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Lirka Ka]

Lirka gave an solemn nod, effortless to miss in the absolute chaos happening around them: even if he was a a Mandalorian he was at least making himself useful, Lirka spun her Klaive once again: slashing one of the mighty B2s into two, as though it’s heavy armor wasn’t even there.

[SIZE=11pt]Immediately after, she stomped her foot: shouting out something in her own language. A command for the Glaive wielding Honor Guard that had been leaving growing up a massive pile of scrap with their twisting and spinning blades.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“Eidali!”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]And with that the quartet of Sephi advanced forward, blades twirling in the fine art of combat. All Sephi had an art, for so many of these warriors combat had become their arm form of choice. The glaives hacked through the metal of the Droids with all the same ease as Lirka’s Klaive: but regardless it was half a suicide charge. The numbers were overwhelming, not too unlike Seltos. The sea of Droids only seemed to grow with each fallen metal whelp. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]And maybe for once Lirka’s foolhardy nature was going to whip back at her.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]A fine joke. The charge had a simple plan: draw the attention of every droid unit assailing her wall of civilians. A bit overly ambitious, but the “dancers” had their own crowd of unending Droids forming around them. A growing light show of blasters being flung around from the Dura Armor of the Warriors or their blades reflecting the Droids attacks. It was a bloodbath. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The largest of the Honor Guard, not quite as massive as Lirka herself, but more than intimidating enough as her. His Glaive swung downwards, slicing a fallen droid in half and leaving a deep and burning incision within the ground. Without skipping a beat his weapon swung again, though a calm and measured voice spoke out from his helmet:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“Tia Cel, is this where the end finally comes?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Pessimistic indeed. But his blade never slowed, slashing through a B2 and a nimbly launched foot sending the dead husk of a droid down into it’s allies.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“I never knew you as one to die so easily!”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Lirka, was not calm, at all, she was consumed with that bloodlust once again: she shouted, her voice oozed that lust for little more than the raw adrenaline of the situation.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“Do not take my queries as surrender, merely realistic Tia Cel.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]They all called her Tia Cel, their Queen. She was one of the only true icons of the old monarchy of Thustra that they had found during the Galaxy, their loyalty was all but absolute. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Lirka gave little more than a grunt as a response to their banter, blades continuing to swing. But the blasters were finding their mark now, the “Tia Cel” staggered as a heavy blaster shot from a B2 rocked into her shoulder. Snarling and leaping forward to impale the offending unit on her blade. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]But their purpose had been fulfilled: they were trying to leave an opening for her small force of civilians to flee. Maybe she wasn’t just brutish violence and heartless determination.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt][member="Alrich Vi'dreya"][/SIZE]

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

Post #1

w. [member="Alwine Lechner"] | @Lirka Ka | [member="Allya Vi’dreya"] | Larentia | [member="Srina Talon"] | [member="Rashae"]​

---

​

---

​

It was a never ending sea of droids and more than the small band of fighters could possibly destroy. Gerwald was certain that this might be the day he was about to die. If he were to die at least Alwine would be with him. He had promised never to abandon her again, and what would be worse than abandoning her by death. No, if Gerwald was going to die, he would do so with his sister as two warriors should. Each hack and slash of his blade simply delayed the inevitable from one moment to the next.

The obsidian colored blade tore through metal as though it were soft butter. Over his shoulder he looked at his sister who fought with them, and another... a Lupine... there was another with them that he could smell over the fray of all the other scents of the battle.

"Do you smell that, lotha uss... we are not alone, and it is not Katrine."

Gerwald did not know why the scent stood out to him other than being Lupine, but he felt as though he should know it. It was like a there a familiarity to it that he could not place, and he wondered if he ever would. He turned ahead again to redirect blaster fire. The more he sliced through the droids the happier he became. This was going to be a day that would not be forgotten whether they survived it or not. A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he finally spoke allowed.

"This is as much fun as killing bunnies!"

 

[Alwine Daye]

Wearing: Obsidian type Strike Armor | "Executor" Boot Exclusive
Wielding: Obsidian Knight Sword
Tags: [member="Gerwald Lechner"] [member="Lirka Ka"] @Allya Vi’dreya [member="Larentia"] [member="Srina Talon"] [member="Rashae"]

Alwine was not accustomed to fighting droids. With humans and near-humans it was easier, for they mistook her size and misjudged her, thinking she would be easy prey. It was something she had easily exploited time and time again during fights. However, these droids did not suffer a single hint of such prejudices against short people, and so she'd had to adjust her style immediately.

But while it had only cost her a second, and while she was still only five feet when standing completely straight, Alwine Lechner was a fierce fighter. She had undergone exhausting training with both Caid and Jaron, and that had come after many nights being trained with a great-sword by Gerald and Varrick. And now, she was on the field, fighting alongside her brother, Gerwald.

In that moment, all of Alwine's doubts were gone. She did not wonder whether she was fit to be a Warrior. Whether being a Warrior suited her. The song of battle coursed through her veins a she twirled, launched, hit, and broke every damn piece of machinery that tried to come towards her or Gerwald.

The only thing that gave her pause was the words Gerwald pressed into her mind. Alwine turned her head, her eyes seeing nothing, but her nose… She scented it ([member="Larentia"]). A growl escaped her throat, but she stopped it half-way, forcing it down. She had told Gerwald, and more importantly, herself, that she was open to meeting other Van-Dervelds that were not the auflaque. Whoever's scent she was picking up, it was not Katrine, and so Alwine would not offer her insta-hatred.

But she would be offering her nothing now, either. Now, they were in the middle of battle.

Turning around, Alwine spotted a droid that seemed massive to the tiny woman. It was certainly taller than Gerwald, and Gerwald had his back to it. "DALNINUK!" Alwine screamed and launched herself forward. She was small. She was short. She was quick, and with the aid of the Force, she jumped above Gerwald, sword swinging, landing directly on the… Was it an eight foot droid? Nine foot? She was on it like a cub, but this was not a practice lesson. Her sword sliced and the droid's head fell off, the rest of its massive body falling down to the ground as well.

Alwine landed perfectly next to her brother and gave him a wolfish grin. Neither of them was dying today.

 

[Labkahip Mordulla]

​

Objective: 2
People to possible run into: [member="Scherezade deWinter"] [member="Taramaz Laurs"]
Equipment: Lab Coat, Wrist Mounted blaster

Lab let out a hiss as she cupped the cauterized wound on her leg, the light blue skin turned a blackened charged purple from the near miss of a blaster bolt. Each step hurt like hell, the nerve endings exposed to the biting chill of the ship air, the melted layer of plastic that made her body suit not helping either. If this was any other situation she'd have sat down and treated such a wound, but their was litterly very little time to do such, after all they were in a ship that may or may not be slowly hurtling down towards a planet at crashing speed.

It would take to long to evacuate everyone, less so with the thousands of battle droids and the subsequent fighting all around the ship, then there was the additional destruction such a large ship would cause to the planet upon impact, most likely killing many more people. No, there was not running the reactor needed to be fixed one way or another, and if not, well at least she tried rather then attempting to save her own life, and most likely dying in the process. Thankfully it seemed that the immediate area was void of any droids, well active ones, the hallways seemingly to be cluttered with the metal limbs and bodies of the turned allies, leaving an almost straight path to the reactor room.

"Well at least I am not the only one with the same idea, I just hope they are of some use". Continuing to limp lab slowly made her way into the main reactor room, eyes going wide at the less then welcoming site before her. Quite a few droids had already made their way into the reactor room, despite the efforts of what seemed to be two... what where they called? Knights Obsidian? Regardless what caught her attention the most was the sparking and obviously heavily damages reactor controls and other councils, alarms blaring around the room, drowning out most sounds of combat. "Great, seems I have quite a job cut out for me".

 

[Allya Vi'Dreya]

She fought side by side with the Jedi. She preferred to use her telekinesis and blaster to lash out from a distance, while her saber provided a great defense. It wasn't cowardice, but an understanding of how long this battle would be. If she got injured here, she would fall in the long run. Anger and rage had to be restrained by reason and understanding. However, if the Jedi was an empty vessel, she was one full to overflowing, a violent sea of unrelenting rage, anger, and hate. And each of these droids were the target of it. Her people were being hurt. But at least there was a clear cut target for her to unleash on.

Eyes look up, seeing the corvettes landing. Medical corvettes. Would be good for evacuating, if the civilians could get through. She had to do more, distract more. Eyes went to the hole where they were pouring from. Five minutes, it was all it would take for the civilians to have a chance to escape, if she could hold the hole for five minutes they could make it. She felt honored, as her red blade danced through the air, redirecting enemy fire back on her targets. She had never fought alongside a Jedi before, and he was marvelous to watch.

When Srina's comm message came in, broken, and staticy, she knew it wouldn't get far. She quickly relayed the message to Confederate forces. “The Virus has returned.” When eyes look up at the flashes coming from the Fortressa, her eyes went wide. “And it appears the Fortressa is under attack, initiate emergency lock down of communications on and off the planet.” She was no Exarch, but, she knew her place as a defender of the Confederacy.

When the Jedi near her acknowledged the Exarch, she nodded her armored head. “Go protect the Exarch. I'm going to keep heading to the hole, and try and plug it for a bit, so the civilians can escape. May the Force serve you.” Not waiting to hear what the Knight said, she rushed forward into the sea of droids. Any amount of wreckage she could find, were quickly pulled by her strong telekinesis power, and slammed into the crowds. As she got closer to the group, her lightsaber slashed out at well, cutting through the crowd of droids. Hundreds fell before her, and she knew it wouldn't be nearly enough.

Calling on the force, she launched a broken pod racer right in front of her, letting it roll across the ground, crushing a large group of destroyer droids that were coming to block her path. She couldn't stop now. With her jet pack, she launched herself up, and onto the the rolling podracer. Finally, she force jumped off it, landing in a rocky area that was hard for the droids to maneuver. Lightsaber kept slapping away the blaster bolts. She was seething inside, letting her anger fuel her powers. However, she knew she had to keep it on a leash, or else her mind would be useless. And the moment she stopped thinking here, the Acolyte would die, she wasn't nearly powerful and trained well enough to just rely on the Dark Side to see her through. Instead, she relied on the Mandalorian this time around. When one hunter wasn't strong enough, a pack of them were needed. Eyes scanned for anyone else who managed to get this close to the hole, senors quickly going through the sea of machines to find the biologicals.

Spotting a group, she launched herself in that direction. They were quickly being overwhelmed, similar to her own situation. Vexia had to move fast, or she would be bogged down by the numbers, and destroyed. Saber flashed out, blaster firing, and then she had an idea. Holstering her blaster and focusing on defense for a moment, she takes a grenade, arms it, and throws it at a particularly large droid group. Once thrown she takes out her blaster once more, and begins to run. It explodes, sending pieces of droid everywhere, and forcing a hole through the madness.

When she heard the voice of the Minister of Science call out that she was on hand, trying to take care of the situation, she relaxed a little. The woman had a reputation of great effectiveness. She focused her mind on the task at hand. Taking advantage of the hole caused by the explosion, she vaulted through and ran, using her lightsaber to slice droids in two, to keep the path clear, as she used force speed.

Once at the site where the group still stood, quickly being overwhelmed, she knew she had to do something fast. Especially as a massive twelve foot, modified construction droid was barreling down on them. The steel weapons wouldn't even begin to get through the tough outside. Growling in a feral manner, she rushed at it, and holstered her blaster once more. Her little Songbird wouldn't do much against this monster. No. “My will be done.” All of her rage, her anger, her passion, her desire to protect these people and all those in the arena went at this being, hand reached out, to focus on it, and her hand squeezed shut, like she was crushing something. Immediately, the droid tensed up, arms and legs crushed to its body, and soon was lifted into the air. It was tough, this was large, and trying to keep up with defense at the same time, using her blaster to bat away blaster bolts. But she had a plan. Using the giant droid as a giant baseball bat, she repeatedly smashed it into the massive waves of droids trying to overwhelm Lirka and her group.

The thud was heavy, a small concussive wave coming out each time it hit the ground, over and over, it swatted, thudded and crushed all the droids in its path, but at the same time, she showed self control, not hitting near the group. Once the droid was nothing but broken metal, she walked forward through the dust, and smoke, steady and secure in herself. In reality, she knew by the end of this, when her rage finally quelled, she would be collapsing from exhaustion. She had to make this good. They had a few minutes to recover and recoup before the next wave would swarm them.

“What is your situation?” The Sithlings voice came from the voice filter in her helmet. “Can you still fight?”

[member="Lirka Ka"] [member="Josiah Denko"]

 

[Damsy Callat]

Form: Humanoid Equipment: Dress, wrist datapad/comm​

Tags: none; open to interaction​

​

Podracing was like swimming.

If swimming was loud. And if it was in the air instead of the water. And if doing so left behind a trail of foul-smelling pollutants.

So, podracing was admittedly very different than swimming, that much she could tell even with her bad vision, but the one thing that was common between the two, that had drawn Damsy to the arena in the first place, was the freedom. The rebellion. The...well, the feat of it. Flying and swimming, specifically with a tail as she did, were both activities that not just humans but many run-of-the-mill aliens couldn't do without some form of technology. Pods, in this case, were the technology, but nonetheless seeing another group of beings defy the natural laws of what their species were supposed to not be able to do filled her with an odd sense of hope.

Belonging.

Even so, Damsy stayed firmly planted on her bleacher as the rest of the stadium stood up in a wave everytime a pod zoomed past the starting line on its Nth track, but she did add to the eruption of cheers as much as her raspy voice would allow. On one occasion, Damsy's ears twitched under her mess of ringlets, working to separate a foreign sound from that of the roaring fans. Was it...some sort of rumbling?

Before Damsy had time register what she was hearing, the ground began to shake. As carefully as she could, she stood to see the ant hill begin to open. At first, she began to rush to the exit like the civilians--after all, what good was she here, a fish out of water?--but then she turned and started to descend the stairs towards the arena's center stage. It was a strange thing to feel thankful for, that so many beings had been present for this soon-to-be massacre, but it allowed Damsy to move slowly through the panicking crowd without falling.

After breaking out of the crowd, however, Damsy was forced to stumble out onto the track. Bad idea.

 

[Morgaine deWinter]

​

​

​

The insides of her nose prickled, causing the redhead to wrinkle her nostrils in her sleep. Certain smells were reaching her; there was some blood in there, a bunch of smoke, and the rusty stink that was always either droids getting smashed, or many women on their monthlies at the same time. The soon-to-not-be-sleeping-woman had found herself in both such situations, more than once.

It was a very long time later that one eye green and one eye golden, staring at the smoke that was rising into the sky. So it was the former, then. She sniffed loudly, the kernels inside her nose tickling the hairs that were hiding in them, and she giggled. The effects of last night's Giggledust were still working hard, and she was enjoying every moment of it.

Rising from the rubbles that had piled themselves around her, the spice addict noodle sat up, looking around now. The ant nest metaphor was not lost on her, and it caused her to giggle again. Ants. Droids. Droid-ants. Maybe she could make money off of it, once she found her lost ship again. Someone had stolen it so long ago, and her cargo of bantha poop on it. Morgaine deWinter wanted her ship back.

Slowly, she rose, taking an unsure step. The rubble was rubbly, slightly unsteady. A bottle of moonshine was in her hand and she took a nice long gulp from it before looking at the scenes of carnage on the ground. A day that happened so long ago that she junky could not even count, her parents had expected her to become something. A Sith Inquisitor, a Sith Warrior, a Sith anything.

Instead she had gotten herself addicted to every spice known to the 'verse, and a few that she had concocted in the bathtub on the family mansion on Spira.

Now, people were getting injured. People were screaming. This would have been a perfect moment for her to show what she was, what she could be, the strength of the family she hailed from. She could turn herself into a hero and save lives. She could do something with her life. The scene unfolding before her mismatched eyes was so perfect for it.

Morgaine deWinter laughed and turned around, taking step after step to walk away. Magically, no droid attacked her, no rubble fell atop of her head. Every so often she paused to take another sip or snort a little bit more, until without getting noticed, Morgaine deWinter was entirely gone from sight.

~ Morgaine in & out​

​

 

[Taramaz Arcturus]

[SIZE=10pt]Theme[/SIZE]​

Wearing: [SIZE=10pt]Obsidian-Type Strike Armour [/SIZE]Knight's Obsidian Ring, Crushgaunts
Wielding: Dual Red Obsidian Lightsaber, DXR6 Heavy Carbine, Mandalorian Heavy Pistol
Tags: [Member=Scherezade deWinter]
Notes: The four other voices apart from the main one in the theme are the four commando droids. Also, the main idea is that the theme is meant to symbolise him trying to control his anger.
Location: The Fortressa

​

He looked around, the shield surrounding them. It was truly amazing, he hadn't even had time to react when the Pathfinder, Madalena, had grabbed his arm. He had never seen something so destructive, well, of course he had, he'd seen much worse, but never something such as purely amazing...

Before he knew it, the shield was gone, as were a great majority of the droids. Everything had happened so fast, it kind of reminded him about that time he almost got married, all those years ago... Nevermind that, he was facing a giant droid, a prototype he only knew of. A mixture of the deadly killing programming of an ancient Hunter-Killer droid, mixed with the practically indestructibility of a IG-100 Magna Guard. Both extremely deadly in their own right, but when combined... And not to mention the sheer size and power of the droid itself, he'd seen it pick up and throw the Pathfinder, Madalena, right across the room, into the reactor, causing it to almost collapse. Swinging like a chandelier about to fall, and crash right into Madalena.

The realisation that Madalena's life might end prematurely, or that he'd have to haul another body out of the battlefield, and tell the family the news. It hit him, hit him hard, harder than the prototype experiment before him would be capable of, well, he hoped. He reached out, capturing the swinging reactor with the invisible hand of the force, holding it in place, temporarily. It wasn't long but gave Madalena enough time to get out from under it, thought his grip was broken when the droid hit him in the gut, with the electrostaff it was wielding, alongside a deadly vibroblade. It knocked the wind out of him, and left him doubling over. It was light, compared to what the droid could really do, he knew it. He knew the droid was playing with him too, he would've been dead in two seconds if the droid wanted him dead that badly.

He dared a glance over at the reactor, which was swinging slower now, but still at an uncomfortable pace. He then rolled to the side, as the Prototype hit the durasteel floor where he was standing with his staff, denting it, badly. He grabbed his sabers, igniting them. He crossed the blades of his saber in an X, leaning far back, holding off a strike from the Prototype's vibroblade. He then threw the attack to the side, and tried to stab the droid in it's leg, grazing the side of it's shin, leaving a fine burn mark on it. But the droid hit back, worse, well, tried. He brought his sabers up, like bars, pointing upwards, blocking the horizontal strike. The sheer force behind it, pushed him back a few inches.

He felt a sting go up his arms, another side effect from blocking the strike. He started walking and side stepping, purely dodging the Prototype's attacks. He then rushed forward, trying to stab into it's chest, but he got hit right in his chest, with the staff, the shock being mostly absorbed by his armour, though he got knocked back again. He force leapt off the wall behind him, right at the droid, but he got grabbed out of the air, and smashed into a wall, pain surging through his body. He could start to feel broken ribs, and other assorted body parts.

The droid started to go towards Madalena, but the Executor leapt up onto it's back, and the droid spun around, hitting him into a wall, but not before he managed to cut off the droid's sword in half, somehow. The droid threw it's weapon away, and hit Taramaz in his gut, with the metal fist. Now with the wind knocked out of him, he dropped to the ground, as the droid started to kick him, and hit him, somewhat lightly, enough to keep him down. He sent her a telepathic message telling Madalena to keep her distance, and work on keeping trying to fix the reactor, or stop the fall.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Wearing: Armor | Leather Pants | Honey Boo Prototype Combat Boots | The Forgemaster's Ring | Ring of Stasis
Wielding: 10 Czerka knives | Fire and Smoke (lightsabers) | Hidden Wrist Blades | Knight Obsidian Sword | 4 Glitter Bullets
Location: The Fortressa
Tags: [member="Taramaz Laurs"] [member="Rashae"]

Everything was still spinning. Madalena was just barely aware of what was happening around her. She blinked, trying to make her vision come into focus, her gaze managing to focus on the swinging reactor above her. Her eyes widened and she scampered back, using everything that was within her. A few moments still were needed before she was back to herself, but those few moments would become meaningless if the reactor decided to splat her onto the cold metallic floor of the Fortressa.

The telepathic message sent by Taramaz was received. Madalena nodded without looking at him, her eyes still stuck on the damned reactor.

[SIZE=18pt]WARNING. WARNING. FORTRESSA REACTOR DOWN. ESTIMATED TIME BEFORE CRASH ON TRIFFIS. TWO. HOURS. FIFTY. SEVEN. MINUTES.[/SIZE]

Using her arms to steady herself against the wall and pull herself up, Madalena gasped. Everything was still spinning, and she knew that time was running out. Almost three hours were far from enough, assuming the estimations that were being broadcast on the speakers were right.

Her entire focus had now shifted. The droids become secondary; what she needed, was engineers that could fix the damned reactor. The Sithling flicked her holomap of the Fortressa, searching for where they were supposed to be situated.

By the Force, it wasn't too far away from her. She could run the few halls and get to them on time. There was only the matter of Taramaz and the big droid that he was still fighting, blocking her way. Madalena opened her mouth to say something, when

SNAP
SNAP
SNAP
BOOM
CRASH

[SIZE=18pt]WARNING. WARNING. FORTRESSA REACTOR DOWN. ESTIMATED TIME BEFORE CRASH ON TRIFFIS. TWO. HOURS. [/SIZE]

Well then. Two hours, not almost three.

Madalena called every bit of power she had available to her, and Force Sped through the fight that was still going on between Taramaz and the big monster boss droid. This was not her fight. "Don't die, don't die, don't die!" she yelled as she sped by, tossing him a bottle of Blackroot Potion,"I'll be back soon! I hope!"

Before she knew it, she was out of the hallway, running upwards in the Fortressa, making her way to engineering. It was a blessing that the path she had taken only held parts of droid remains. Perhaps someone had been here early, for there was nothing to attack her on sight, nothing that tried to kill her.

It was almost comical how quickly she got to the door.

"Pathfinder Antares, I need to accompany all those of you who can to the rea-"

Her voice died dead in her throat. She'd opened the door. There were… Well, there were a few dozens of engineers in the room. And they were all dead. The injuries on their bodies looked droid-made.

Madalena screamed in frustration. They could not have the Fortressa dip onto the planet. They needed to get that reactor fixed but she… She…

Wait.

Her fingers moved quickly to her comlink device as she looked at the data of those who had sent messages over it since the droid massacre had begun. She needed someone… Uppity? Someone in charge? Someone… THERE!

"Dudette Minster of Science!" she half screamed into the comlink as she contacted [member="Rashae"], sending a message back to her, "I need a team of engineers here! The reactor fell to the ground a few minutes ago, all engineers aboard the Fortressa have been slaughtered by the rebel droids, we cannot let the Fortressa crash on the planet! I need the team here ASAP! Give me numbers, give me a meeting point, I will personally escort them and keep them alive, but we need them NOW!" That sounded… A bit too harsh? "Please," she added, "oh, this is Pathfinder Antares," she added.

 

[Rashae]

Doctor Rashae Lovous looked at the Fortressa tilt a bit. She looked at it as if trying to transfer its data right into her mind if she only could. It looked surreal. It didnt look like much was wrong with it from the outside, but it held a ticking time bomb. Time she didnt have.

“2 hours Minister. Reports are coming in that earlier assessments were inaccurate. The droids are affected by some virus, the fortressa is suffering from a reactor failure.” The communication officer had a slight tremble in her voice.

“Steady Major. “ As Rashae thought for a few moments. “Continue with the closed network experiment. Can we....”

“Incoming communication from the Fortressa!! “ The communication's officer almost shouted.

“To me!! “ Said the Minister.

"Dudette Minster of Science!" she half screamed into the comlink as she contacted Rashae, sending a message back to her, "I need a team of engineers here! The reactor fell to the ground a few minutes ago, all engineers aboard the Fortressa have been slaughtered by the rebel droids, we cannot let the Fortressa crash on the planet! I need the team here ASAP! Give me numbers, give me a meeting point, I will personally escort them and keep them alive, but we need them NOW!" That sounded… A bit too harsh? "Please," she added, "oh, this is Pathfinder Antares," she added.

“Pathfinder Antares, This is Minister Rashae Lovous, we hear you loud and clear.” She turned her head as Antares could hear her order for a team from the engineering department to get to the hangar stat. “We will load a team in a shuttle and be there in ten. I have a few soldiers for protection as well. Whatever I can do Pathfinder. We have a team working on the virus issue on the hangar deck as well. Minster Lovous over and out. “

“Move it people, we dont have time to waste!” She said as she stood up and made her way to the hangar deck.

She went to the enclosed psuedo computer station within an enclosure that was built for this kind of experiment. While she quickly walked to the lift to take her down to the hangar bay, she pondered how quickly things came into action. Everyone was moving with purpose as a well oiled machine. Once she was at the enclosure she stopped a moment to collect herself and gain some calm for those inside the enclosure attempting to solve the virus. She pushed a button on the panel. “How is it going gentlemen. “ She would ask the computer geeks in the enclosure.

“Minister.. this a mean one. We are working on it. “ The speaker would crackle. The virus seemed to try and find a way to broadcast but it couldnt.

“Keep at it. The issue with the fortressa is more a reactor problem and the droid issue is a virus problem. Two separate issues. You have some time but dont waste time. Get it solved.” The raven haired beauty would remind them that they were under the gun with those words.

“Yes Minister. “ Said Mister Beavus as he nodded from the glass panel towards her as there was some relief on his face.

The Minister was there to see off the Engineers into the shuttle that took off to head towards the Fortressa. “Lets pull four of the corvettes and evacuate the Fortressa just in case. “ She said to the Commander who was with her.

“Yes Minister. I will notify the freighters to gear up for guests. “ He said in his efficient and calm way. Rashae was glad that he was calm. She needed that to borrow from.


[member="Scherezade deWinter"] -- [member="Taramaz Laurs"]

 

[Srina Talon]

​

Location: Triffis [Planetside] - Triffis Drifter Arena [Near the Ant Hill]
Nearby: [member="Allya Vi'Dreya"] | [member="Larentia"] | [member="Alwine Lechner"] | [member="Gerwald Lechner"] | [member="Lirka Ka"]
Next to: [member="Josiah Denko"]
Objective: [King of the Hill] Beating the pants off of droids in the Center of the Arena.

_____________________________​

Lovely.

In the span of time it took for her brand new state-of-the-art pod racer to wind up full of blaster holes they had more problems than she could shake a stick at. She could hear reports coming in from the Fortressa that painted a scene that was almost worse than the state of the Triffis Arena. She brushed a long white ponytail behind her shoulder and molten silver eyes fixated on the waves of droids that rose from a pit. How had they gotten here? The Droid Factory?

She didn’t really have time to figure out all the details with wave after wave of homicidal robots appearing. The Holdin’ Aces that she’d pulled from the mists did work. Srina preferred something with a little bit more ammo and range for this many foes, however, it helped momentarily. A voice caught her focus but with the mention of her title over her name she almost missed it. The Knights were formal, no matter her wishes, and her mercurial eyes narrowed unmercifully when she realized the intent. “To safety?”

@Allya Vi’Dreya, the progeny of her Master, seemed to have the same idea. Protect the Exarch. In what world did she require protection from a swath of unruly droids? Srina, intrinsically, knew that they were simply acting in the best interests of the nation. She knew that they were doing their best with the information they had at the moment. Allya took off and Srina saw much of Darth Metus in her. She could only hope that the youngling was equally skilled. At this point, it was a game of numbers.

Organics were on the losing end.

“Until every civilian is out of this arena, we remain, and we fight. Is that clear Knight Denko?”

Everyone had their sin. Everyone had their vice. Srina Talon was cold as ice. Her soul seemed to be missing, little more than a ghost, but she did have one emotion that burned fever bright. Wrath. She had grown weary of the malware that that saw fit to turn their most utilized tools against them. More than that, the bodies that littered the ground, men, women, and children brought back memories of the destruction of the Core. That level of violence and carnage would not happen within the Confederacy.

[member="Darth Metus"] had promised her as she had promised him. This would not stand.

A message came through her commlinks and she kept her back pressed tightly against her pod whilst Knight Denko dealt with the next wave of enemies. He provided her just enough breathing room to adjust her frequency and respond to their newly christened Minister of Science [member="Rashae"] Lovous and to prepare. She drew in the energy of the Dark Side while she spoke. Collecting it, pooling it, as if she were creating some sort of reserve inside her body. “We could use more medical support Minister Lovous. Focus on stabilizing the Fortressa. Stopping its descent is the number one priority…I don’t need to tell you what will happen if it hits.”

Even blowing the SSD from the sky wouldn’t be enough. If it maintained current velocity it wouldn’t matter what they did on the ground or who they saved. Most, if not all of them, would die anyway. If she looked up at the sky she could just barely make out the outline of something enormous. She could see that the medical services that the Minister had sent were already trying to set up a perimeter but the pale-skinned Apprentice didn’t know how long it would hold.

Organics needed rest. They needed to breathe. Droids didn’t.

Srina pulled herself from the cover that pod racer provided and the Force moved in response. The moon to the tide, she let the energy flow, and her silvery eyes began to burn. Sith corruption caused winter gray orbs to bleed with burnished gold and her visage became all the more ghostly. The very skin over her cheekbones seemed to thin as her wrath prepared to expel itself. Not in emotion. No, never that.

It would make itself known in her actions.

“Stand clear|Kioska dniti|"

Her voice was many. Not one. It was galactic basic—and it was not. Srina Talon was an Apprentice. That was true. She was without her Master on Triffis. But, unlike most, she was never truly alone. She brought her hand up, so small, so seemingly innocent that almost immediately the droid population turned toward her. What was she to them? One, humanoid female, by most standards. Her flesh would burn from blasters like any other organic.

Only, it didn’t. The shots paused before they hit her. She released the power of her Master from a peridot stone she wore around her finger and it surged through her. The immediate area around her darkened and she aimed at the largest cluster of droids coming from the pit. Srina was careful when she concentrated. She would not hit her allies, she would not hit the civilians, but when the Dark Side pulled from her the white-haired woman generated a field of destruction.

Srina used her body as a conduit and the effect was almost instantaneous. The blast radius was large, unforgiving, and entirely vaporized the droids that got too close. The ones that escaped direct contact were pushed down with enough force to break them by the abilities backlash. The young woman did not know what the attack was called, only, that she knew it would be effective.

The drain that followed was staggering, but, so was the effect. A great swath of the homicidal robots were simply gone. As if they had never been.

 

[Damsy Callat]

Form: Humanoid Equipment: Dress, wrist comm, electrostaff​

Tags: (near) [member="Srina Talon"]​

Damsy inched out into the arena, holding onto gates and half walls as long as she could. Soon, though, she was forced to waddle out onto the dusty track outside the safety of the bleachers. She scanned the ground as she walked over it for any potential weapon that she knew how to use, so that eliminated blasters. Just when she started to panic, the sounds of blaster fire in the air seemingly getting more intense, the toe of Damsy's foot hit the metal shoulder of a fallen commando droid, sprawled out in the dirt. His weapon, a vibrostaff of some kind, was not on him, however, but it wasn't even a meter away, making it easy for the near-sighted Damsy to find it.

Without another moment to waste, Damsy used the staff as a crutch on which she could hobble further onto the battlefield. When she spotted a mechanically-moving blur that she assumed to be a group of droids, the Sithspawn swung the staff over her head. The top of the staff connected with the ground and she pushed herself off the ground, swinging around to get closer to her targets faster. She barely caught herself with a wide stance that left her venerable for a moment. As she brought the staff down on the nearest bot, she accidentally twisted a panel in the middle of the staff. Electricity erupted from the filaments on either side of the weapon, making both the droid short circuit and collapse, and Damsy duck to avoid burning herself.

She hadn't expected that.

Quickly, she swept the staff around her head, knocking another three battle droids off their feet. She then stood, ponytail whipping her face as she looked around for more adversaries.

 

[Lirka Ka]

It was an impressive display, of that there could be no doubt. But the impressive display of the Metus spawn was lost on the group of Sephi, all of them had been so grossly engrossed in their art: or just the simple fight for survival.

[SIZE=11pt]Lirka’s blade did another nimble spin, cutting through one of the many lines of Droids. The storm of blades persisted onwards, the horde of scrap growing bigger with each waking moment: such was war against Droids, “art” quickly became less than that. The attacks and swings became dull and repetitive, exhaustion slowly seeped into their ancient veins [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]But they would not relent.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Fighting with barely contained fury the flaming weapons never allowed themselves to slow. They’d live another day, and with the destruction of the construction droid it seemed the horde had decided to slow for a time. But some...Mandalorian looking trash had been what greeted Lirka. Her anger never tired.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“We can fight, and we will still fight. That is all.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]A small bit of disgust oozed from her voice, too many Mandalorians around here. Though, despite saying how ready they were to fight all their armor showed the wear and tear of battle. Lirka herself had a particularly impressive chunk of her armor blown off.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt][member="Allya Vi'Dreya"][/SIZE]

 

[Labkahip Mordulla]

​

Objective: 2
People Involved Maybe: [member="Rashae"]? [member="Scherezade deWinter"] [member="Taramaz Laurs"]
Equipment: Lab Coat, Wrist Mounted blaster

Lab had been focusing so much on the current damage of the reactor that she failed to notice the large killer droid fighting with someone right in front of her, the women attention being dragged toward it at the sound of two light sabers being draw and ignited. Looking at the current scene she bore witness to some custom looking droid fight and almost toy with a Obsidian Knight, deliver blow that would probably kill her if the roles were reversed, looked rather painful, maybe her medical skills would bee needed some time in t future, if the droid didn't outright kill the man.

She gave a quick shake of her head, Lekku following through, no now was not the time to be thinking about that, every second the reactor wasn't repaired the closer the ship came to crashing into the ground, they needed that super battle droid thing out of the way. Lab looked to her wrist blasters, they were probably no of use, but she could hopefully distract the monster machine and give the knight some room to breath and work, here as well that reactor wasn't going to fix it'self.

Taking cover behind a turned over plastiod crate the young Viceroy took aim at the droids back, letting of several bursts of blaster fire into's it back, the round, as suspected doing little to harm it besides a few scorched marks and small dents, "well kark". She barely had time to react as the droid spun around faster then here eyes could track, throwing one of the mans lightsabers at her, the blade easily cutting through the plastiod container, leaving Lab without cover, forcing the scientist to make a break for it. "Oi Mr Knight guy, can't you use some sort of force power to crush this thing"? She more or less yelled, running around the large cylindrical reactor, setting several smaller shots into the chest of the droid.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Wearing: Armor | Leather Pants | Honey Boo Prototype Combat Boots | The Forgemaster's Ring | Ring of Stasis
Wielding: 10 Czerka knives | Fire and Smoke (lightsabers) | Hidden Wrist Blades | Knight Obsidian Sword | 4 Glitter Bullets
Location: The Fortressa
Tags: [member="Rashae"]

​

As [member="Taramaz Laurs"] and [member="Labkahip Mordulla"] remained to deal with the droid boss in the reactor room, Madalena looked around her frantically. Part of her wanted to go through the engineer's pockets, see what she could find that would help them, but she knew that would be a futile waste of time. Even on the odd chance that any of them had a magical rector cure, she wouldn't be able to tell that was what it was.

She had ten minutes. Ten minutes to get to the hangar. Which hanger? Madalena called her holomap up, looking at where the closest one was. By the Force, there was one that was a five minute run from there. "MRL, sending you the location of the correct hangar," she said as she sent the Minister the coordinates.

Now there was just the matter of getting there… And getting back. She had to make sure the way was as droid-free as possible. Without knowing what the Minister's soldiers were made of, there was no way to ensure they would make it safely to the lab, and then to the reactor.

Leaving the room, the Sithling peered into the empty hall. She wished Force Sense worked on droids, so she'd know when they were coming. But droids were not organic, and there wasn't a sip of midichlorians in them. Until she actually stumbled into another one of the infected droids, she was even more useless than non-Forcies, since she didn't even have the equipment to locate any upcoming metal enemies.

Sighing, Madalena opened a brisk walk towards the hangar. A few more doors along the way were open, all letting her see rooms full of dead – civilians, white lab coats, people in rich clothes. It seemed like people thought hiding here would be a good idea. They were wrong. Dead wrong.

A single person, even a noncombatant, if they had weapon access, could maybe, potentially deal with one rabid droid. But a swarm of them, with the Fortressa most likely spitting out more and more? Against people who were lab rats, who were socialites, who were more likely to accidently shoot themselves rather than an opponent? They were dead before the first bullet or laser was shot. It was a massacre. There was no other word to describe what was happening on the Fortressa.

With a sigh, Madalena opened the doors that led would let her enter the hangar, and ducked immediately behind the rails.

"Hangar is full of rabid droids," she said to her comlink, hoping the Minister's ships' signals weren't blocked, "I repeat. Hangar is full of rabid droids."

As Madalena rose from behind the rail, her dozen knives rose with her. Two lightsabers ignited, their green glow matching the one that came from her eyes. Whatever precious few minutes she had left, however many precious few minutes she had bought the people on the incoming ships… Now was the time.

Letting a battle roar out, Madalena launched at the dozens of droids.

 

[Rashae]

Rashae watched the shuttle take off and head towards the Fortressa. The way she looked at the shuttle was as if to will it with all speed to the flag ship. 'come on. ' she would think as her thoughts and will wanted this to be successful. It would not look good to the rest of the galaxy if they lost their flag ship. She didnt like not going either as she tended to like being in control of things. There was a sigh as she balanced her thoughts as she also learned that you need to trust those whom you employ. The Minister had a discerning eye for talent.

After the shuttle was well on its way she heard the transmission from the Pathfinder. First it was Dudette then it was.. 'MRL'? She put a finger on the earpiece as it took her half a second before she answered. “Information is being transferred to the shuttle, Pathfinder. “ Her irritation at the name thing might be showing in her voice.

It wasnt that transmissions were blocked. Most were blocked, but those needed channels from the Fortressa which were a handful of narrow bands was heavily filtered. So it may take a second to three seconds to transfer as it went through the checks and balances to ensure the transmission was clean.

Rashae's eyes turned to the enclosure where the computer nerds were doing their thing on this virus problem. Mister Beavus was typing madly as he worked around the virus and circled in like a spiral. It was like death from above as the computer forensics expert dissected the virus as one would dissect a corpse. The layered format of the virus seemed to be hidden in malware. Mister Beavus got to the com as he asked for the Minister to report his findings.

“Good work Mister Beavus. Find a work around or a neutralizer for the coding.” Her brothers were also computer nerds so she knew a little bit. It was enough to know he was on the right track.

From the earpiece she heard the Exarch's words come in as communications redirected it after ensuring it was clean to the earpiece. “Yes Exarch.. There are four medical corvettes on the ground around your location. Four of them are headed to evacuate the Fortressa incase the engineers can not save her. There are medical speeder bikes deploying from those corvettes to gather hurt people and bring them to the corvettes. I only have a handful of soldiers to guard each one.” The Minister was fairly well known for her efficiency as well as her ability to administrate.

&&&&&&&&

The pilot of the shuttle was a bit of a nutcase. He was generally called Snoopy. Why no one knew really. Something about some ancient creature that had awesome flying abilities. Some hero of this pilot for some reason. The pilot would take the information and glide the shuttle towards the prescribed location. He heard the pathfinder say something about the hanger being loaded with rabid droids.

“ten four there sweet cheeks. “ Snoopy said in his cocky little back water planet accent.

Snoopy brought the shuttle in sideways at first as a battering ram and then turned as the front blasters of the shuttle which comes standard for basic defense would fire on the droids attempting to avoid the Pathfinder.

“There is only one way to deal with a rabid puganator and that is to put him down, sweet cheeks. “ As he settled the shuttle on the hanger deck firing what he could before ducking back into the body pulling his blaster out. They would wait for the Pathfinder's signal to open the shuttle doors.


[member="Scherezade deWinter"] -- [member="Srina Talon"] -- [member="Taramaz Laurs"] -- [member="Labkahip Mordulla"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Wearing: Armor | Leather Pants | Honey Boo Prototype Combat Boots | The Forgemaster's Ring | Ring of Stasis
Wielding: 10 Czerka knives | Fire and Smoke (lightsabers) | Hidden Wrist Blades | Knight Obsidian Sword | 4 Glitter Bullets
Location: The Fortressa
Tags: [member="Rashae"]

​

The ship was in the hangar. The ship was in the hangar. Madalena cursed, hoping the pilot would know better than to open the doors. There were still droids around, they were still shooting like mad. Her armor was definitely going to need repairs after the day was over. Already she could feel many bruises forming beneath it, her leather pants cut in various places. She could feel blood trickling, but it wasn't important enough to deal with right there and then. She was still functional.

As the shuttle began to fire, Madalena grinned. Extra firepower against rabid droids. Awesome! She danced between the fire, dodging the shots that were not aimed for her but could've undone her regardless. Droids around were falling. What the ship couldn't shot down, Madalena was slicing with her lightsabers.

It wasn't too long before the hangar was clear.

Well.

Clear was a harsh word. It stank of rust and burning plastic, and lots of the dead droids were also giving off smoke. But they were gone. No more droids in here.

"Safe to come out," she announced on the comlink. "Hope you guys can run. The last time we spend in the halls of the Fortressa, the better."