Unfinished Business [Mandalorian Crusader T2 Dom of Chiloon Rift]

[Miss Blonde]

Unfinished Business ​

Spoiler

[media] https://youtu.be/X3BBUVR38jo [/media]

Location: Chiloon Rift outskirts
Time: 1300 local time
Objective: Move the package to the objective

The Chiloon Rift was a beautiful place regardless of its blood stained past. Bright colors dancing in the void from quasars to the light of a distant sun reflecting off of crystals that formed across the billions of asteroids that inhabited the rift. But despite all of the Rift's beauty it was still a dangerous place to call home. Marauding gangs of pirates and Primeval remnants still swept the Rift with deadly intentions and ethics that would give even a grizzled soldier some pause. So who would dare come to the Chiloon Rift despite all that danger?

The massive super carrier known as The Vagrant Queen pulled out of hyper space at the edge of the Rift and at its bridge were four people who had arrived with a very specific mission in mind. To catch everyone up, the massive ship that was seen at the edge of the system was formally parked in orbit around what was once the capital of the Republic aka Chazwa. Upon a raid of the long suspected dead in orbit ship, it was discovered that the carrier was very much active with a captain named Johnny that didn't die no matter how many bullets you put in his head. With the Syndicate fighting their way to the bridge a deal was struck to assist Johnny and taking down a former primeval warlord known as Vladimir, in exchange for the ship and the shipyards where he was formerly employed. But now that everyone was relatively caught up, they needed to get down to business. Now dressed in a clean black suit, Johnny grabbed a nearby blaster rifle and slung it around his body by a three point sling.

"You call your friends yet?" he asked blonde almost impatiently.

"One moment." The woman responded as she was hunched over a communications desk.

The right thing to do would of been to call [member="Isley Verd"] who would be able to get to the rift in a flash. However Isley was always busy probably brooding or fighting his inner demons. Something lame like that, or he was abandoning another child to escape from parental responsibilities, you know, Isley stuff. So the smart thing to do in this situation would be to call [member="Zef Halo"] and [member="Keira Ticon"] to inform them that crap was about to go down and they could have the only chance to carve out the last bit of Primeval that remained in the Rift. So clearing her throat the woman would speak in her normal tone as to help circumvent certain bylaws.

"This is a message for Warmarshalls Zef Halo and Keira Ticon or any other Crusader forces in the area. This is the Vagrant Queen with Patricia Garter speaking. I am currently in possession of a Super Carrier with an Ex-Primeval Scientist who is willing to take us to a covert shipyard that can apparently distort time. The only problem is that a number has been done on the Queen's defense network and it's a dangerous ride over so we're going to need some fire support to get the done. If any Crusader forces are in the area, arrive and board the Queen. The current time is thirteen hundred hours local time, this message will be set on repeat." Patricia ended the message and then looked over to the men who had followed her here. [member="Cyrus Falcor"] and [member="James Justice"]

"Last chance to get off this ride, I'm going to see it through but I won't hold anything against you guys if you bail. If you guys choose to stay I'll need you to stay quiet, and be known Miss Blonde was never here." She would then look over to the scientist that was Johnny and question him.

"So what is the Queen packing? And do we have enough fire power to make it into the shipyard?"

"Besides your standard set of turbo lasers and warheads, she's not equipped with anything revolutionary. She was designed to park over a small planet and drop ships and troops. I was lucky enough to hack the droids controlling the ship and escape the Rift. The coordinates of the shipyards are loaded into the navigation computer. But we're going to need to put full power to the shields in order to get past all these asteroids and get into the shipyard, that means no turbo lasers, only missiles. Pick your targets and hope your friends show up." Johnny said as he loaded his rifle.

"The problem however isn't the facility itself, it's getting there. We're going to be boarded by primeval, pirates, and potentially whatever scabber thinks their hard enough to salvage parts. Plus Vladimir will be waiting for us. Sick bastard knows we're here already."

And so now all there was to do was wait for Mandalorian forces to arrive so they could fight their way through pirates, primeval, and whatever else this cursed asteroid field had to offer and purge the system of remaining hostiles and take control.

OOC NOTES

Spoiler

This thread is a direct continuation of Dead Orbit a Syndicate thread that has expanded and tied into this dominion.

OBJECTIVES
There's only one main plot. Get the Vagrant Queen to the primeval shipyard in one piece by killing pirates, primeval, and raiders, launch an assault on said shipyard upon arrival, purge all primeval remnants within, kill Vladimir, and secure the shipyard without causing too much damage to the facility. Other than that you are welcome to make your own objective and do your own thing as you see fit.

 

[Anya Malvern]

"This is a message for Warmarshalls Zef Halo and Keira Ticon or any other Crusader forces in the area. This is the Vagrant Queen with Patricia Garter speaking. I am currently in possession of a Super Carrier with an Ex-Primeval Scientist who is willing to take us to a covert shipyard that can apparently distort time. The only problem is that a number has been done on the Queen's defense network and it's a dangerous ride over so we're going to need some fire support to get the done. If any Crusader forces are in the area, arrive and board the Queen. The current time is thirteen hundred hours local time, this message will be set on repeat."

The message came over her comms as she opened her line up and spoke" this is Anya loma of the crusaders your lucky I'm in the system to let my hyper drive cool down I shall be there in just a moment out" with that she pushed forward following the signal through the field as she looked around till she saw the ship dawn over a asteroid as she gave a smjle and slowly landed in letting her little transport sit and power down before stepping off.. light armor on and flame throwers on her wrist blaster at her side she was ready for a fire fight....but for now would sit tight till she was told her orders

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Zef Halo]

Location: Aboard the Varad's waystation, Chiloon Rift. 100 MGLT from Sarnus. 86 MGLT from The Vagrant Queen's (Miss Blonde) location.
Post: 1
Allies: Mandalorian Crusaders
Enemies: Soon.

"This is a message for Warmarshalls Zef Halo and Keira Ticon or any other Crusader forces in the area. This is the Vagrant Queen with Patricia Garter speaking. I am currently in possession of a Super Carrier with an Ex-Primeval Scientist who is willing to take us to a covert shipyard that can apparently distort time. The only problem is that a number has been done on the Queen's defense network and it's a dangerous ride over so we're going to need some fire support to get the done. If any Crusader forces are in the area, arrive and board the Queen. The current time is thirteen hundred hours local time, this message will be set on repeat."

The message came with a lot of static despite that it was picked up by a Varad recon probe on the edge of the Chiloon Rift. One of the 9 recon probes that patrolled the various edges of the rift where incoming ships tend to appear. Jori and the rest of clan Varad stood aboard the main bridge of the waystation that served as the clan's house in their new home - the Chiloon Rift.

"A lot of static but y'all got what is being said. Encrypted Crusader channel as well." Meviik stated after he finally cut off the transmission from repeating.

"Meaning ?" Jori raised an eyebrow underneath his helmet. He knew what it meant but he was more inquisitive of what the clan should do.

"Kiya, transmit this to aliit'buir. Let him know but considering the urgency of this situation and its importance, I say we act." Meviik shared his opinion which was more of an order than anything else. "Get a few of the B-wings ready for flight. We might be the first that can arrive to support them in this crazy endeavor."

"Since when is crazy bad ?" Aera interrupted entering the bridge with her helmet in her hands, an arrogant smirk on her face.

"Since someone is trying to navigate a whole super carrier through the Rift with a final destination that cursed shipyard near the Bubble of the Lost." Meviik replied sharply.

"Alright, that does sound fun. Did you send a transmission to the sender about that ?"

"Um.." The Naval Commander scratched the back of his head.

"Of course." Aera chuckled and then turned to Kiya, the communications officer. "Send a transmission to that sender."

"Channel is open." Kiya replied when she tapped a few buttons on her terminal.

"This is Aera of Clan Varad. Crusaders. The Chiloon Rift is our home. Hope you've got good enough crew to navigate through this mess of nebula and asteroids."

"If you've got tractor beams, now is the time to use them. I repeat, use tractor beams. We are coming for help."

The blonde gestured for Kiya to cut off the transmission after which she turned to Jori.

"Ready for another adventure with the damn Primeval ?"

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Zambrano the Starweird]

"Unfinished... unfinished... all rots in life to grow restless in death... I am death... I am restless." The strange serpentine mutters of a false black prophet echo in the chamber where pools of sacrifical blood surround the dreadful monster.

Its tendrilled hands wrapped around greedily its most essentially organ, frozen by the icy darkness it dripped with. Dull grey eyes looked out of a rotting face.... the Witch was hardly corpreal, kept together only by sutures and stitches woven out of the fabrics of the spirit plane... the force itself.

Before it, dripping above each pool of bloody magicks, was a body. Each body, had been mangled so horribly from its original form, one could not identify its original species... but what they seemed to represent now, curiosly, was a jawa. A green ichor seemed to bathe the entire floor, a fine mist humidifying the room with a cool deathly aura, the power of a witch so deeply fallen into the dark of madness.

"Bane... spiders... assassssssin!" Strange memories momentarily flood the Hutts mind... remembering the strain on his mind the force once placed upon it. It willed him to die every hour... yet without Mishk, he refused to leave this form. It was strange, mandess, in how it took you. Some would argue this Hutt had been mad from the beginning... but the true madness was the strange coherence he had gained following the death of his apprentice and sick lover. All the 'sanity' had given the Hutt, was a higher plane from which to fall. His words now have become... unintelligable with its obsession with returning his love from the 'Unseen Rift'.

Something else was in the air though, beyond the stenched of mutilated corpses, rotting flesh, and hutt defecation... it was the destiny of death... the business which would be-

"Unfinished.... unfinished... forever forgotten... oblivion."

[member="Mishk"], [member="The Silver Assassin"], [member="Orkamaat"], [member="Sage Bane"] (This is Z Hutts death, didn't know if you'd at least be interested in reading), [member="Boethiah"] (?)

 

[Cyrus Falcor]

Cyrus stood by [member="Miss Blonde"] as she issued her "call to arms" to the Mandalorians. A most fearsome ally to have on this adventure. Cyrus was excited to see them in action. He'd never met one before, they were experts in death dealings, that made Cyrus a big fan. When the 'Johnny' fellow spoke of the ships poor weapons and defenses, Cyrus jumped on a console and plugged in a Slicer Chip. The program booted up and began overriding all of the security systems, protocols and even the bridge controls.

He routed excess power from the lower levels life support into the shields. Asteroids weren't know for their plush texture, they'd need the strength, and those unfortunate enough to be below the bridge and without ample means to protect themselves would suffocate slowly because of the Surgeons actions.

Cyrus uploaded all of the command controls to a datapad and handed it to Patricia....Blonde. He'd forgotten she had a real name. His LED's would be a solid green and he'd give a thumbs up to signal he'd finalized everything. Blonde would be able to control the shields and weaponry from the datapad. Returning the Slicer Chip to his person, Cyrus stationed himself in the pilots chair and began to prepare to exit hyperspace.

[member="Zambrano the Hutt"] [member="Aera Varad"] [member="Anya Loma "][member="James Justice"]

 

[Lord Ajihad]

[member="Cyrus Falcor"] [member="Anya Loma "][member="Miss Blonde"]​

​

Clinging to the side of a sizable nearby asteroid was a cloaked Phasma-Class Infiltrator. Even without the the state-of-the-art stygium cloaking device, one would struggle to pick up the small frame of the stealth ship attached to the enormous chunk of space rock.​

​

Inside the cockpit of the infiltrator sat a figure equipped in a complex set of armor. Weapons of all shapes and were strapped to many areas of his body, ranging from the Dathomiri energy bow on his back to the hidden blades strapped to both wrists. A dark hood and matching half-balaclava covered the majority of the man's head, stormy gray eyes still visible from the shadow of the cover. His presence signified this particular event in space and time was of great importance to the future of the galaxy. The Gray Assassin was no hitman or petty killer. He was a persona of death, one of the most skilled and feared assassins in the galaxy. His skill with a blade was unmatched, as was his grip on the arcane. He only set out for the most difficult and important of targets, and those he hunted never survived.​

​

The weapon-clad assassin was not in the area by chance, however. He often liked to think he served no corporeal master. That much was true, but that did not mean there wasn't some other entity guiding his actions on occasion. The old gods had summoned him to this place, whispering tales of vengeance and massacre into his ears. They promised him he would find untold opportunity there, and that if he did what they commanded, he would be rewarded with bounties only the divine could send upon him.​

​

Upon his arrival to the rift the assassin has picked up many life forms through the force, ensuring to also mask his presence from those he might encounter. Upon further investigation, he discovered a supercarrier intruding on the former Primeval territory. He had quickly sent his hacking probe to subtly slice into the ship's comm channels, a small task for the specialized droid. As he found a suitable place to hide his ship, he listened as they spoke of that of which they didn't understand. It seemed they seeked the Bubble of the Lost. To them, it was some sort of anomaly they would undoubtedly experiment on and try to decipher for their own means. He snorted as [member="Aera Varad"] called the Rift the home of the Mandalorians. She seemed as naïve as the stars were bright. The Chiloon Rift was the cursed throneworld of [member="Zambrano the Hutt"]'s wretched undead legion, home to nothing other than blackness and corrupted witchcraft.​

​

As he had neared the ship, he was sure this was the challenge the gods were speaking of. What else could it be? The cloaked ship was preparing to board when he sensed something in the back of his mind. It was a sickly, twisted presence that he hadn't felt in a long time. A presence that had forever scarred his soul, a presence belonging to the one he considered his greatest nemesis.​

​

Zambrano​

 

[James Justice]

[member="Miss Blonde"]
[member="Cyrus Falcor"]

James could imagine some of the horrors that had taken place in this beautiful Rift. You peel back a layer and you could practically see if not taste the blood through the years. The worst part was--he knew he had done things that would for some be just as bad--if not worse. He had a bad feeling about this nightmare place, maybe it was just that this was too much like him--maybe it was just the circumstances that brought him here. Either way, he had that feeling.

He took a few steps away and pulled out his datapad. He tapped on the contact info of [member="Jessica Justice"], [member="Brooklyn Justice"], and [member="Calvin Justice"]. He hadn't seen them in--too long. A pang of regret ran through his body. He had pushed them away to keep from corrupting them. They had raised themselves that far without needing him--he didn't want to make them into monsters now. He licked his lips before typing out,

Hey, I miss you. Sorry I haven't been in touch. I can never tell what time it is anymore with all this hopping around from planet to planet. Hyperspace tends to take that time-thing out of you, eh? I hope your doing well. I miss you. A lot. Just wanted to tell you I was thinking of you. You won't believe the type of day I have had. I'll have to tell you about it some time, eh? Sometime real soon. I promise I won't put it off anymore like I have before. Sorry about that. I love you. --Dad.

He looked over his message a moment before pressing send. He cleared the lump from his throat as he put the comm back on his belt carefully. It was time to put that away, back in the box it belonged where no matter what horrors awaited him, it would never be tainted or blood soaked. Unlike the rest of him. He walked back to blonde, careful to mask all of what just happened, "I'm in."

 

[IT-88]

Redacted. Wrong thread.

 

[Cyrus Falcor]

Post 2

Cyrus picked up a ping on the hull of the ship. With all of the security protocols down, a person trying to hack in was like hearing someone try to pick an unlocked door. Cyrus activated the systems defenses, and counter hacked the object attempting to break in. Inserting the Slicer Blade into a console, he backtracked the hack to a droid on the hull of the ship. Tuning to the droids frequency, Surgeon determined they were being spied on. Sending a kill virus to the droid would deal with it and turn it into a pimple on the skin of the super carrier. To hide what he'd done, Cyrus piggy backed the signal and continued to transmit data himself. That would keep the droids owner guessing.

The frequency he'd picked up was moving closer to the ship. It was larger than the droid, possibly a ship, what with the size of the signal it usinng to transmit the droids data. Since all of the hangar doors were closed and no other entrances existed, if a board was to be attempted, it would fail. Using the same frequency the droid used, Cyrus sent the same kill virus to the ship. It would disable all onboard computer systems, killing it. If it were a ship, it would be dead in the water, if it were another droid, it would just be dead.

Cyrus sent an alert to [member="Miss Blonde"] about the hack attempt and the signal that was being transmitted. Strange enough, since there was no outgoing chatter from the carrier besides Blondes initial message and James' note to his family, and only a welcome incoming message had been received from the Systems inhabitants, it was likely to be looking for where the carrier was headed.

[member="James Justice"] [member="The Gray Assassin"] [member="Aera Varad"] @Anya Loma

 

[Anya Malvern]

Anya had gotten board waiting in the hangar by the little ship she had and started up towards the bridge announcing herself to the many guards she had to pass as a Mandalorian Crusader ally and walked slowly onto the bridge and gave a cough before speaking

Pretty fancy ship you have here though your crazy to try and go through all these asteroids you must have some crazy plan.....but I like crazy so let's see where this goes I'm just simply here to help you"she said as she looked out the windows at all the asteroids and more then likely scum

Oh where are my manners " she said with a chuckle "I am Anya loma your local pryomaniac echani " she said as she gave a half bow with a crazy grin

[member="Cyrus Falcor"][member="James Justice"][member="The Gray Assassin"][member="Zambrano the Hutt"][member="Aera Varad"]

 

[Orkamaat]

There were bad days, and then there were terrible days.

Today was neither of those. Today was, without any exaggeration, the worst day he’d had in three centuries.

Orkamaat had awoken to a body of thorns and holes where there should be none. Crawling out of a pool of black tar, he limped like a cripple out of the dark corner where he’d been secreted away. A month? Three? No way he could tell. Time was as irrelevant to the Priest as breathing, food, and drink. He could enjoy its pleasures, but didn’t miss it when it passed him by.

Today, he noticed. His flesh felt as heavy as the dirt that bore him, his limbs naught but bone and sinew. The rest, he’d left in that puddle of putrefaction and blood. Nothing affected him like this. Not him. Not Orkamaat.

A beast disturbed, the anzat – though barely anymore of that left, today – reared his head, and sniffed the air. The stench might have been himself, if not for the distinct stink of excretion. Intrigued, he dragged himself further down the tunnel, feeling the hewn stone walls with spider-fingers. Every few steps or so, it grew from harsh to sandpaper, then to grain, and then finally, to utter smoothness of well-worked rock.

He stopped, forced his burning eyes open. Nothing.

The road ahead remained dark as before, save for the sweeping strokes the Other painted for him. Chiloon pulsed with life far as he could see. Tiny, furious specks of bellicose bloodlust far on the horizon. A taint of loathing, radiating an aura of gut-wrenching fear; closer, this one. But most overpowering of all was the scar of midnight black pulsing straight ahead, vile and encroaching. Much like himself, this… creature was the rare recipient of the Gift.

More curious still, the scar was not unknown.

Licking his lips, the wretched picked up pace once more, forging ever forward. Flickering like an old neon light, the Priest of Balagoth would merely add ambiance to the wild and unpredictable tides of the Rift.

Looking up at a storm while standing on the ground, you could never see the whole cloud. Stretching from horizon to horizon...

and then beyond.



[member="Zambrano the Hutt"] | [member="The Gray Assassin"] | [member="Anya Loma "]| [member="Cyrus Falcor"] | [member="James Justice"] | [member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Zef Halo]

Location: Aboard the Varad's waystation, Chiloon Rift. 100 MGLT from Sarnus. 86 MGLT from The Vagrant Queen's (Miss Blonde) location.
Post: 2
Allies: Mandalorian Crusaders
Enemies: Soon.

His mind stirred at the thought of facing the unscrupulous minions of the Primeval remains. It had just been a few weeks since their settlement in the Chiloon Rift after a month of hardships and numerous encounters with Primeval pockets of resistance. Clan Varad had remained vigilant and cautious on movement around the Bubble of the Lost where a Primeval station lied. The mining companies were also reluctant on venturing near to that place.

Now it seemed they had to head that way directly and Jori could see the adventurous spirit of Aera painted as a satisfied smirk on her face. She had been looking forward to this, the brunette had been urging the Alor to gather a strike team and puncture what seemed to be the hear to the Primeval aggressors in the Chiloon Rift. The aliit'buir would reject the urges but no longer could he reject.

It was more or less a rallying call.

"Ready for another adventure with the damn Primeval ?"

Jori simply turned his head aside to look through the viewport at the numerous asteroids and colorful nebulae that spread throughout the whole Chiloon Rift.

"Cap, it seems that Ghul is on a rampage again." Kiya reported to Meviik interrupting everyone's concerns on the current situation.

"Kad'Harangir save us, what now ?" The captain replied dryly.

"He's tired of staying all day and all night on the station...again."

"That animal...tell 'em to meet Jori and Aera at the hangar. He's leaving with them." Meviik commanded and both Jori and Aera's eyes widened.

"Wait what ?" The two of them asked in synchronization.

"You heard me. You two with Ghul are off to get to those people with that cruiser." Meviik stated, his tone implied that he would not back down and fortunately for Jori Aera was not in the mood to argue.

"Fine." She muttered as she left hastily the bridge towards the hangar. Jori right behind her as a shadow.


[member="Miss Blonde"] [member="Cyrus Falcor"] [member="James Justice"] [member="Anya Loma "][member="The Gray Assassin"] [member="Zambrano the Hutt"] [member="Orkamaat"] [member="Aera Varad"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

Location: The Vagrant Queen
Objective: Start the journey
Post 2

No longer adorned in her gas mask to reveal her identity, the woman shrunk her force signature and established her force resistance to shield her mind from any prying hands that looked to pry open her vault of information. There was too much going on up there from locations of safe houses, plots to kill certain individuals, and most importantly who she really was. With the cameras in the command deck disabled she was able to safely change over personas and start this crazy train of a trip up.

"Let's get this done." Patrica said as she grabbed her rifle then looked over to the staff of droids manning the ship.

"All power to the shields, push forward."

The ship would begin its journey forward, plowing asteroids out of its path, and of course making itself a large target for those looking to stop it. But there was a fat chance of that happening, when Patricia set her mind to something it always got done one way or the other. So that spelt out bad news for whatever remnants of the primeval were around, hopefully they'd do the smart thing and bug out before it was too late. And hell, there was nothing wrong with that, it's what she would of done. But before she could continue with her self reassuring internal monologue, Patricia would walk over to Johnny and would have a few words with him.

"We're on a direct route, right?" she asked the man with a firmness to her voice.

"Straight to the bubble, then it's just a hop skip and a jump to the facility." Johnny would say with a raspy voice and a chuckle.

"Captain Johnny, incoming signals. We're not alone out here." One of the droids shouted out from their post.

"Hope your new lads know how to fight, yeah. with power going to the forward deflector shields they'll be boarding us from hanger B in the back. Get there and I'll get you directions from here." Johnny said as he walked over and hunched over a computer.

Patricia nodded and soon grabbed her rifle off the deck and stopped as Cyrus began to signal to her.

"Cyrus, whatever it is I need you to handle it. James, let's go." the woman quickly stripped out of her armor to reveal her classic red dress.

Grabbing one an oxygen mask on her way out the door in case things got a little too spacey for her tastes the woman would push into the hallways of the ship at a steady jog and as she looked out some of the various Windows she could see a wave of pirate ships coming towards them in an attempt to board the aft of the ship. Hopefully there were more mandos coming, because Patricia and James didn't have the fire power to handle them all.

[member="Zambrano the Hutt"] [member="Cyrus Falcor"] [member="The Gray Assassin"] [member="James Justice"] [member="Orkamaat"] [member="Jori Varad"]

 

[Anya Malvern]

Anya watched as they talked amongst themselves then quickly moved past, she took to following them as she stayed close yet not to close to them as she looked out and stopped seeing the pirate ships coming she smiled and gave a laugh as she started in a jog to catch up to the two with a big grin on her face as she checked her weapons and then blaster pistol

She eagerly moved now knowing she had to do only one simply thing just a simple thing and that was what she didn't best....kill and kill only those trying to boardgal this ship that would end with them dead and on fire it would be amazing!

So maam might I ask what we are doing in a astound field if I may ask" she said as she caught up to [member="Miss Blonde"] and [member="James Justice"]

 

[Zambrano the Starweird]

The worst day.

Inexplicably in the mindscape of the sludge-fleshed bloated snake, it began to imagine "it's" worst day. It was a dreadful thing really, when you begin to consider that "it" is not one pers- er, thing, rather.

In an instant, the spirit locked away in the frozen heart in his hands, reached out and touched the hollow mind of the fractured Zambrano the Hutt.

It remembered the sullied face of a padawan, stolen from the Gulag Plague. It remembered committing suicide in its grandsons body. It remembered the ravenous, painful, bloody hunger, which snuffed out uncountable lives in the Valley of the Dark Lords, all of them its own. It remembered its son Darth Calapsus the day he failed the Boke name, before cutting his own father down on his birthday. It remembered the day Ramese Zambrano beat its body before the family table after issuing its final prophesy of dear nephew Kaine's parents' death. In this life, Mishk, slain by the Assassin in the sacrificial flames of Korriban.

As is clear, this spirit was no stranger to tragedy, and "The Worst Day" was a plentiful and recurring experience... it was married to Tragedy in a centuries long affair with Death. Unbeknowst to what had become a monster... today an affair would end, as divorce falls down in one last making of love.

Spoken through the mouth of a Shade, mutilated into the the shape of Mishk, bleeding Mirialan blood over the misted goblets, the spirit spoke.

"I am the Spider of the Mind who crawls without legs. The Bane of the Maggot, who rots with flesh untouched. The Assassin of the Martyr, who sleeps with the whore of death. To the Assassin give him rest no more. To Bane, give him flesh no more. To the Spider, take the darkness so his many eyes may once more glimpse what is lost." Mist begans to rise above the Goblets, as each word of this rite, is spoken by a new speaker whose likeness matches the dead Jawa.

"L'ans of the Unseen Rift in the hands of the Dead One," The Hutt speaks, "I compel you... for seventy long years I have catered to your fancies in this Lost place, and now can bear the pain no longer. I beg of you, answer my plea, find that which I love so at long last we may be reunited."

What follows the ritual is silence, and waiting... for a message...

[member="Orkamaat"], [member="The Gray Assassin"]

 

[Lord Ajihad]

The cultist's eyes widened as someone attempted to hack his slicing probe. The slicer was good; the probe would only be able to hold them off for a few seconds. Raising a gloved fist, the spherical robot would be crushed by an unseen force. It beeped one last time before the light behind its cracked LED optical unit faded to darkness. His ship would remain hidden, despite the valiant efforts of the enemy hacker.​

However, it seemed they were going to have something else to worry about. Advancing quickly, a small fleet of enemy pirate ships was closing in on the supercarrier. A smirk touched the the man's face. The ship would need all of its shields to make it through the Rift's infamous asteroid field. With this new threat, their defenses might not have enough power to traverse the region.​

Just to rub salt in the wound, Ajihad pressed a button on his wrist-mounted datapad. On a heavily encrypted channel, a signal would be sent out to to a few little surprises he had been saving for an opportunity such as this. Throughout the Rift, there were many broken and disabled ships floating round as waste. Among this flotsam, a hidden threat sat idle. A squadron of Ghost Bombers would power on, previously disguised as old broken ships. They would converge on the supercarrier while it was busy firing at pirate ships, nimbly avoiding the massive ship's laser cannons. The bombers were equipped with a specialized payload, specifically meant for ignoring a ship's shields. The charges were set on a short fuse, so just as they reached the border of the carrier's shields, they would detonate at maximum range power. They specifically targeted key areas such as shield emitters, engines, and the bridge. The seismic waves would punch through the ship's hull with considerable ease with each successful hit. It seemed the Bubble may remain unsullied after all...​

Now the assassin would hunt his real quarry. Throughout his travels, Ajihad has encountered some of the most deadly figures in the galaxy. Darth Voracious, Darth Vornskr, Akala, just to name a few. However, [member="Zambrano the Hutt"] struck him as one of the most fearsome of these calamities. Their rivalry was a fierce one, a feud that could only end in death.​

Coincidentally (or perhaps not), the Gray Assassin had a similar flashback at the same exact moment as the Hutt. He remembered their three-way duel with Alric Kuhn in that old abandoned mineshaft. He felt the red sand permeating his skin as he traversed the infinite expanses of Korriban. He saw through his own eyes their famed duel by the Eternal Pyre. He relived the moment as he tossed the frail Jawa into the hungry flames. He once again felt the feeling of dread in the bottom of his stomach as the Hutt ascended to a new plane of madness, becoming the host of Balagoth.​

The former Sith Lord snapped out of it, realizing his knuckles were white from clutching the arms of his seat. Grimacing, he would peel the ship off the face of the asteroid, maneuvering it towards the unmistakable feeling of undeath radiating from an abandoned space station towards the edge of the Bubble of the Lost. It would be there where he would face his greatest adversary once again.​

[member="Miss Blonde"] [member="Anya Loma "][member="Jori Varad"] [member="Cyrus Falcor"] [member="James Justice"] [member="Aera Varad"]​

 

[Orkamaat]

A powerful voice resonated right then through winding tunnels carved into the obdurate flesh of the asteroid. The slurred syllables, dripping with venom and decay, were amplified with every echo repeating their words down the corridors. Stone met metal, nature met the inexorable advancement of technology that progress brought. And progress, in turn, was the result of the singular thing that affected all living creatures.

Time.

If he could, Orkamaat would have smiled. His expression instead remained confined to the limits of a skull’s grin, passionless and vacant.

He held no mighty titles to spew back at the voice. Any lofty station that might have once clung to his being had long rotted away at Balagoth’s touch. It was in every breath creatures drew, looming just beyond the veil of conscious awareness. For recognition of its presence alone was enough to crack even the strongest, most brilliant of minds. So instead, it lingered obscure, and only became fully manifest in the absence of everything that animated their cages of flesh.

In words of those who hadn’t the time to contemplate and comprehend as he did, Balagoth was death.

And in words of this man, this thing that called out with its pitiful baying, Balagoth was mercy. The final, endless respite from a tumultuous, taxing existence. One last exhale, and all the burdens of a life well-lived would be gone.

It was beautiful in its simplicity, Orkamaat had always thought.

And so he answered, with words borne from those millennia of contemplation and, finally, tentative comprehension.

It comes, he whispered fondly into the void, and continued without a falter in his step.


[member="Zambrano the Hutt"] | [member="The Gray Assassin"]

 

[Zef Halo]

Location: Aboard the Varad's waystation, Chiloon Rift. 100 MGLT from Sarnus. 86 MGLT from The Vagrant Queen's (Miss Blonde) location.
Post: 3
Allies: Mandalorian Crusaders; [member="Miss Blonde"]; [member="Cyrus Falcor"]; [member="James Justice"]: @Anya Loma
Enemies: The Primeval soon enough.

"ARGHHHHHHHHHH, I AM TIRED OF THIS FLYING PIECE OF JUNKKKKKK!!!!!!!" Ghul raged as he tore another vectral from one of the very few starfighters that clan Varad possessed. "MEVIIIIIIK, I AM TIRED OF WAITING FOR YOU MINIONS!!!!!!"

"Cut it out, Ghul!! You're freaking karking up the little that we've got of naval power." A young Varad mechanic gestured at the rampaging Dashade to quit his whining as the consequences of it were not cheap...at all.

The beast of a Mandalorian ignored the mechanic as if he did not exist at all while he continued to roar and try to break more components of the starship that he had targeted. Meanwhile, the doors slid open a level above from the hangar and revealed the two figures of Jori and Aera. Their slow pace was quickly hastened at the scene of Ghul going insane. Both jumped over the handrail and landed on their feet safely using their grav boots.

"The hell, Ghul ?" Aera's expression was that of disgust.

"You couldn't just wait and go berserk without damaging our stuff, could you ?" Jori's far more reserved response to the situation came in.

"IT TOOK YOU SOME TIME TO COME DOWN HERE, YOU PIECES OF PAPER." Ghul growled at the newly arrived Mandalorians, his eyes gleaming in red.

"Pieces of paper. Wow, Ghul, your vocabulary is improving." Aera shook her head sarcastically which in turn drove the Dashade madder than before.

"URGHHHHHH, OUT OF MY WAY, PUNY LITTLE HUMANS." Ghul charged forward waving his hands to remove the Mandalorians infront of him like obstacles, while the latter evaded simply the large and long limbs of the beast. His direction was obvious - the just ignited B-Wing.

The Mandalorian preparing the starfighter for flight immediately left the starfighter at the sight of the charging Dashade. Ghul certainly had no patience left, he wanted to leave.

Now.

"Are our fighters ready ?" Jori turned to ask the mechanic next to him to which the latter responded with a nod. "Let's go, Aera."

"Hurry up, Jori. Stop being so tardy." The brunette's voice rang from a dozen yards away. She was already boarding her own B-Wing.

"Ugh." The young Mandalorian muttered underneath his breath as he paced down towards his own B-Wing. At the same time, Ghul's B-Wing roared as it abruptly lifted itself upwards and then dangerously darted towards the exit of the hangar. Aera was not long after the red skinned beast, her own great piloting skills demonstrated in the swift yet controlled maneuvers she took after Ghul.

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Cyrus Falcor]

Post 3

Cyrus pulled his datapad up and fed information into it about the now visible bombers coming in on the carrier. One thing about carriers, they used a lot of smaller caliber weapons to handle straggler fighters while the rest of the fleet handled the big guns. Flak cannons and auto turrets mostly. As the Bombers came in, Cyrus was able to track their movements, they were simple pilots it appeared, aiming for vital areas. Too predictable. As soon as one bomber loosed its payload, a flak round burst nearby, destroying the bomber in the explosion. The Carrier was beginning to rock from the multiple seismic explosions. Cyrus countered as best he could by using the thrusters to maintain orientation.

Cyrus picked up the encrypted signal as the bombers blips had started to appear, and with them now eliminated, Cyrus focused on sealing off any areas that sustained too much reciprocal damage and began tracking the signals origins. The encryption was a good one, but it wasn't the best. Coming from a single source that was located on an asteroid, Cyrus thought it safe to assume there was another ship out there in the void.

He hoped [member="Miss Blonde"] and [member="James Justice"] were having a better time than he. Keeping an entire carrier afloat solo wasn't fun or easy.

[member="The Gray Assassin"] @Everyone else.

 

[James Justice]

Post 2

James tapped his DeathHammer pistols strapped to his thighs as he fell in step with [member="Miss Blonde"]. The sounds of war rang out through the ship, a sound he was rather familiar with. He looked at the new girl from behind his helmet's visor and offered his gauntleted hand. If they weren't here on war--he'd probably have made a pass at her. However, when she bowed, he did let himself have a peak down her shirt..... a little. "Captain Justice. The Runner. Pleasure to meet ye miss."

The ship rocked with a violent bombing run his bet was--"Blonde, I ain't no war hero, not by a long shot but if I were gonna take this ship," he looked out the window and watched as another quartet of bombers circled around for their pass, "Watch this," his finger traced their attack run, a strange vector for space battle, especially against this ship. Their payload focused on the middle of the ship's hull, rocking it as their shields absorbed the blow. He watched as they circled around for their next pass.

"Now, riddle me this, miss," he said, "If I were doing bombing runs, seeking to knock out a ship before it reached the base, I'd order assaults on the engines, full guns without mercy." He looked at her, "I'd bet a night in the sack we got boarding parties incoming along the aft miss."

Klaxons began to resound as a second shudder resounded through the Vagrant Queen. James' lips spread in a smile, "Let's give 'em hell, ladies."

And he sprinted down the passage towards the infection.

[member="Cyrus Falcor"] @Anya Loma [member="Miss Blonde"]