We Do Not Falter [CIS, Viceroyalty]

Alkor Centaris |

Credius Nargath |

Tsian Denira | Taramaz Laurs |

Kyyrk | Antoin Garrick |

Alluria Ivalice |

Tallara |

Malok |

Bastille Rommer

Engaging:

Hacks |

Sam Rodarch

Enemies:

Koda Fett |

Kovhorn |

Soloman Priest |

Arwen Hadd

It was becoming increasingly harder for John to rouse himself, to step out of his lab and his office except on the matters of the direst importance. The recent party on Vylmira had been one such occasion, the cyborg rousing himself to help his friend celebrate his birthday.

Since then, John had only left his offices to travel to other facilities or to drag himself home on those days he didn’t fall asleep behind his desk. There was just so much to do, so much work it seemed to be a never-ending cascade of paperwork and meetings that filled his entire day. It wasn’t that he couldn’t find the time to socialise or leave the office if he wanted to. The truth was he was choosing to bury himself in work, choosing to dive into that sea as a means to lose himself, to quiet that demon that rode on his shoulder.

It made little to no sense, he knew that it was running away from his problems but...it was the only thing that was keeping him sane, keeping him from staring out of his window at the dark sky. The worst part of it, the man couldn’t put his finger on exactly what had caused this feeling of ennui. Why it felt like he was fading away inside. He was enjoying his work, he’d never been more productive, days spent at work would do that, but every time he closed his eyes, every time he stopped to rest there it was. That overwhelming feeling of loss, of loneliness.

Some days it was all he could do to stay ahead of it, to lose himself in the intricacies of business and research, in staying ahead of the curve.

He’d heard about the Viceroyalty meeting, who hadn’t? As the Minister of Science he’d been invited, but he knew it was a proforma offer. His bailiwick wasn’t involved in the politics of the galaxy, or even the declaration of war. His job would come afterwards, in providing the technology needed to accomplish whatever mission the Vicelord chose to lead the Confederacy on.

For the briefest of moments he’d considered attending the conference, the thought had persisted for a few heartbeats before it was discarded. He didn’t want to go, to sit in that crowd and watch them argue and debate. At least if he avoided the crowd, he’d avoid the need to acknowledge what he was doing, locking himself away like this. At least he wouldn’t have to admit how alone he felt.

So, when the klaxons went off, the alarms echoing across Golbah City, he was in his office at the heart of the Ministry, safe from the violence the terrorists had brought with them. It was easy for him to dial into the CDF command channels, to listen as the military responded to the attack. There was no way someone could attack the centre of the Confederacy and hope to get away with it...but in the meantime the citizens of the city would hear the sirens and gunshots. Even knowing they were safe, it was hard to stop that cold touch of panic that could reach out to grasp you in a time like this.

It was only a moment’s consideration, there really couldn’t be any other option when it came down to it. One metallic finger reached out, pressing down on his intercom as he dialled into the security office.

“While, whatever this is going on, open up the low-security levels of the building to any citizens of the city who want to find shelter. And see if we can reach out to the restaurants in the city, see if we can get refreshments brought in for people while we’re here. EX will tap into the Citadel's security systems so we’ll be able to keep them updated on any loved ones caught in the crossfire.”

The ministry offices were vast and most importantly secure. John wasn’t really sure how many people would take advantage of the offer, perhaps a flood, perhaps no-one. But just to know that there was safety if needed, that the Confederate government was still concerned about the wellbeing of it’s citizens while it itself was under attack. That wasn’t nothing.

“A very noble gesture, you realise that the janitors and security are going to want your head right?”

The ghostly hologram of a droid appeared behind John, moving to stand next to him as the man stared out of the window at the city, just inclining his head to glance at his companions, the ghost of a smile touching his lips.

“That my dear EX is what having a deputy for...such a shame that there was an error in the communications network and they all ended up on Ms T'shkali’s desk. Remind me to look into that later.”

“Evil, have I mentioned how evil you are.”

The AI gestured with one hand, a wall of holographic screens surrounding the two of them.

“Unfortunately I don’t think you’re going to get away with just humanitarian gestures today. I’ve detected a blip in the citadel’s security systems as I was accessing them. It appears that someone is attempting to slice in as we speak...I thought you might like the challenge.”

The AI almost smirked as John turned to face the screens, a smile touching the cyborg’s lips. It wasn’t like he could go rushing down to the scene of the crime, to help deal with the terrorists themselves. He just wasn’t a fighter and would only get in the way of the professionals. But this, now this was his arena, one that he was a master in.

The man’s normally dark eyes began to glow a bright turquoise as he brought his implants online, connecting directly to his office’s computing systems. He could feel EX’s presence, the AI surrounding him like a comforting cloud, anticipating and supporting his actions as he turned the processing power at his disposal onto the task at hand.

“Ok...so you want to play games? Let’s play. Contact CDF command, let them know a slicer is trying to access the Citadel’s systems and I’m intervening. Ask that a squad or two of Dauntless Commandos be deployed to hunt them down.”

The cyborg’s hand’s came up like he was conducting an orchestra, firewalls appearing in the path of the slicer as the cyborg accessed the cities communications systems, redirecting them. A veritable tsunami of banal information bearing down on his opponent. Dealing with the information available to the citadel was tough enough, but this, this was a DDoS attack. He didn’t think it would be enough to knock his opponent out of the game, but maybe it’d be enough to convince them that it wasn’t worth sticking around.

Kovhorn · Jan 20, 2020

Location: Running far away
Mission: Mission failed. Definitely run
Allies:

Aloy Vizsla

Cassus Akovin

Arwen Hadd

This mission was clearly a failure. Almost every member of his team was getting into trouble. And what's more he noticed drones beginning to rise in the city. Well, that was his cue to leave. Even though the drones at the moment were much to far away from him, for now, to be a problem. They probably wouldn't be staying there. And while he doubted they could actually detect him, if they ran into him, they might just decide to start shooting the sky. And his ship was not built for battle, it was built to be fast and evasive. So that's exactly what he was going to do, evade himself right out of this mess.

"Apologies to you guys, but they're sending drones all over the place. I'm getting out of here before they figure out a way to stop me. I wish you luck, but the mission is a failure." With that last word into his teams comms he sped his ship away from the battle, intentionally not going straight into the atmosphere yet, as that's exactly where any of their ships would be if they were trying to stop a ship from leaving, which they were, as he noticed every other ship was headed for landing.

Once he was sufficiently away, he went up into space shaking his head in disappointment. Got away from the planet sufficiently and its interdiction fields, set his hyperdrive for well away, and was gone. He was lucky, probably more then the others. Nobody had really seen him and lived, because they weren't living in the first place and were just shot down because it was droids. So at least there was that. And unlike the others he'd only really gone after droids and the generator, all non-living things. Of the crew he had probably committed some of the least crimes. Except he had been part of the crew. At the very least his ship was still hidden, so they weren't going to find him that way.

As he escaped the planet he felt that strange sensation of weakness begin to dissipate again. Ah, yup. That was better. There was no way he was going to win that if he remained. They'd ended up biting off more they could chew. Fortunately he was the first to his ship, so he'd had the advantage of not really being noticed because everyone else was wreaking more of a havoc in a more noticeable way. But still, this was a very big mistake.

Xazzex Xivar · Jan 20, 2020

Representative: Falleen
Disposition: Studious
Allies:

Malok |

Lyla Quinn | Caesar Kenway |

Kyber |

Tallara
Enemies:

Cassus Akovin

Should any guard, civil servant, or Knight attempt to bid Xazzex Xivar, Viceroy of Falleen, to 'run away to safety,' she would have only one thing to say to them, "Falleen does not run. Now, get out." Risky? Maybe. Necessary? Certainly. Unappreciative? Definitely. Under no circumstances did Falleen -- of whom Xazzex represented as a whole -- run away scared it might be injured or even killed. The moment some holocam caught sight of her walking to 'safety' because of a little skirmish would be the end of her aspirations on Falleen. If anything, the cold blooded woman took command of the platform and pulled away from the ramp to make it abundantly clear where "help" was not wanted.

With the same unflappable disinterest, she watched as two intruders entered into conflict with two Knights. One of whom (

Kyyrk ) moonlighted as a Viceroy from time to time; if not by standing on a podium making speeches, then by milling about in the many offices 'helping.' The man was trouble. Principled. Focused. A "good deal" for his world would pass muster, but Xazzex had no expectations of illicit deals or getting the better end of a deal so long as that man prowled about. Why could he not stick to beating people with lightsabers as he seemed so adept at doing?

She slowly repositioned herself closer to the Viceroy of Eriadu as the Exarch (

Srina Talon ) began conjuring darkness itself to put an end to the farce below. "Only two entered. Only one remains." A pause pregnant with a sigh that could not be bothered to manifest. "Their efforts elsewhere were as meager?" Xazzex's gaze remain on the confrontation below, but her words were for

Credius Nargath . The man seemed to have a curious device that kept him informed of matters. After all, the Vicelord and Exarchs hardly seemed inclined to tell the Viceroys anything.

Yes, yes, they were busy dealing with two mercenaries. Xazzez herself could deal with two mercenaries. Hardly warranted the entire Confederacy. Could they not spare one of them to make a declaration other than "for your safety, please run away"?

Hacks · Jan 20, 2020

Objective: Counter-slice
Targets:

John Locke -

Kiff Brayde

"Big Sister reporting, drones inside the Citadel," Hacks said, her lips moving but her body as still as ever. The message was passed along the Cryptnet-coded commlink that the team shared, coded by the mastermind slicer of the now gone Red Ravens, Jen. "Attempting to locate the target now. Public channels suggest we aren't the only hunters looking for this score. I'll tag them as I see them." The six J57's flew down corridors, turning sharply at each intersection and spreading out quickly, flying high along the ceiling to avoid being seen. "Transmitting feed from drones now," Hacks announced and sent the live visuals to Soloman.

The Deathstrike drone flew from the front courtyard and circled high into the sky. Observing the chaos below. The crash of a window and someones body falling into the bushes. Hacks tagged them to her teams HUD. Unknown. Inside the J57's closed in on the chambers hosting the Viceroys. Just before they could gain entrance the doors shut and powerful roots rose up, encapsulating the chambers. The emergency lights came on. Hacks began to counter and moved to shut down the lights, showering all in the Citadel in midnight. Hacks reached out to the NR-1100 and assigned it to begin slicing into local droid communications and frequencies, hoping that they could send false flags to their receivers.

Hacks felt a tug at her mind, someone out there was probing her activities, attempting to trace her location and then suddenly data streamed across her vision. This wasn't good. With simple monitoring tasks, the J57's cameras dimmed from her mental view, now operating on a standby mode until she was ready to pick up the reigns again. Her attention was needed elsewhere. She was suddenly inundated in information, she was drowning. Phantom fingers clawed at mental calculations but it wasn't enough. Far away, back in the Sprawl, Hacks lips parted again. "Neural stim, now."

Her mind pressed a clear directive to the NR-1100. Cancel current objective. Install the Boot Sector Virus and Overwrite virus through its Scomp-Link. Hacks had established a physical connection to the Citadel and while the task of slicing through security systems herself would have been difficult, assistance from a slicing droid made it helpful. The machine was old, outdated and cheap but right now it alleviated stress from Hacks. While a torrent of data flowed past her, she began to manipulate the Overwrite virus, deleting swathes of information from both her end and their end. Sinking with the ship. While she did this she wouldn't be able to counter those locating her and although the CryptNet would do a nasty job of putting those hounds off her scent, it wasn't an impossible mission.

Her lips parted once again in that far away home, "Sam, it's time to go."

Nyx N1X3 · Jan 20, 2020

Location: Remote
Objective: Cyber Security
Tag:

John Locke | Antoin Garrick

Unauthorized access to Citadel systems detected.
Unauthorized access to data.
Unauthorized modification of data.
Unauthorized erasure of data.

Nyx N1X3 sat as still as a statue as her focus turned toward the interstellar network of the Ministry. Much as organics opened a door and stepped through into another room, the droid at their service entered the Citadel from her present whereabouts. Forgive the intrusion. Please continue your efforts in securing the source of unauthorized activity or in analyzing their actions. I will contain, eradicate, and recover system functionality. The message was sent across the net to

John Locke whose cyber presence had not gone unnoticed the moment Nyx entered the cyber realm. She would tend to the minutia and leave him to ensure the enemy did not continue to run amok. Though she wouldn't turn down his assistance in clean-up either.

Identify.
Isolate.
Purge.
Purge failed.
Terminate.
Terminate.
Terminate.
Back-trace.
Identify...

Verify key system isolation from lockdown protocol.
Verify backup of critical information isolated from lockdown protocol.
Verify command code integrity and confidentiality.

Terminate listener.
Terminate logger.
Terminate beacon.

All emergency personnel are advised to rotate frequencies and codes.

It would be detrimental to Confederacy of Mission Objectives if the system were compromised. Nyx could not allow an infiltrator to cause wide-spread damage. There could be unforeseen consequences to any loss, and it would take numerous personnel to verify system integrity and security once the crisis had passed. The sooner the threat was contained in full, the fewer resources would be needed for these wholly valueless actions. It was, after all, why the Ministry was there -- to deal with threats.

Unfortunate timing this should occur, however. No doubt there would be more political noise about the Ministry's effectiveness. Organics. They were never satisfied. The Ministry had prevented countless disasters. Even Nyx was only one droid.

Luna Terrik · Jan 20, 2020

Objective: Round up

Arwen Hadd
Equipment: BAW-88 Blaster Carbine, Tactical Recon Handguns (2), Personal Armor, CryoBan Grenade (4), Thermal Detonator (2)
Ally tags:

Tallara |

Malok |

Adron Malvern | Antoin Garrick |

Alkor Centaris |

Lunara Azure |

Alluria Ivalice |

GL3AM |

Credius Nargath |

Kyber |

Xazzex Xivar |

Shamira Karuto |
Enemies tags:

Arwen Hadd |

Kovhorn |

Hacks |

Soloman Priest |
Post: #1

This was not a normal viceroyalty meeting by any stretch of the imagination. Meetings of so many officials typically meant that a dauntless response guard was in some nearby building, and today was no exception. What was abnormal was that they were actually being called into action. More often than not, the squad just sat around their ready room, playing pazzak while the meeting took place. Very, very rarely were they told to ready up, and even rarer still were they launched into action. They viceroyalty could typically handle any sort of disagreement themselves, and if the squad was being deployed, that meant the threat was external and split into multiple targets. Hearing that they had been able to breach the meeting chamber was worrying enough. Not that the General worried too much about the viceroyalty in that room. Unless they had found a way to comprise the exarchs and vicelord, whoever was in that room probably wasn’t walking out alive.

Still, the shuttle buzzed through the air as they approached the Citadel. Regardless if they could handle the situation or not, the squad had been deployed, and it wouldn’t hurt anything to have a few extra guns around to wrap up the situation. For now the objective was to fly in, secure the VIP landing pad near the Citadel’s main meeting chamber. With how far the situation had progressed at this point, Luna doubted they would be evacuating now, but the platform would be secured otherwise. Never knew when a quick escape would be needed.

At least, that was the original plan. Luna stood in the center of Omega squad, hands rested on the blaster slung around her shoulders. To her left, the massive master sergeant fiddled with his heavy blaster, looking as if he was trying to clean out the muzzle one last time. Her head turned slightly, chin giving a little point to the focus of the man’s efforts. “It’s probably clean enough Tien.” He seemed to have an compulsion to clean that blaster. It had been with them for quite a while now. Probably something associated with luck to clean it compulsively before the final deployment.

Before he could response, the pilot of the shuttle called back into the troops cabin over the sound of the rumbling engines. “General, come see this.” Luna didn’t acknowledge the call, instead opting to just push her way to the cockpit to see what the commotion was about. It was certainly very clear once she was up there.

Arwen Hadd , seemingly in an injured and hazed state, was pushing himself up from the grass and hobbling away from the Citadel. Who he was, Luna didn’t exactly know, but he certainly didn’t look like a member of the viceroyalty.

Considering the options for just a moment, she tapped the pilot’s shoulder and pointed toward the man. “Cut him off. I don’t like the look of him, and if he’s injured he won’t be going anywhere fast. Lets round him up.” The pilot gave a curt nod, and the shuttle tipped it’s nose down and to the left, away from their original destination, heading now instead toward the slowly limping man, fully intent on cutting off whatever escape he might have thought he had. If he was injured, it might be better to just turn himself into the commando’s squad shuttle now bearing down on him. Death did not have to be the final option for the man.

Koda Fett · Jan 20, 2020

LOCATION: GEONOSIS, GOLBAH CITY
MISSION: RESCUE

Valencia Hadley
ALLIES:

Srina Talon
ADVERSARIES: BOUNTY HUNTERS
EQUIPMENT: SEE BIO

Compromises. Sometimes, it paid to be the snake; venemous in their bite.

The Bounty Hunter entered silence - nothing, not even a crackle returned to the Exarch in the immediate minute once their transmission came to a conclusion. Fett ensured consideration met it, though through a natural skeptic lense. Srina Talon loathed the Mandalorian, yet particular figures -- especially those that possessed more strength in their purple-plagued faction -- held a fondness for the infamous individual. He offered, in turn, a singular demand: "I need coordinates and access to the target."

Suspicious. Trust? Tenuous. Though if the Echani remembered one thing about the Mandalorian, it might be that their obsession over reputation and lust for rewards took control.

Shamira Karuto · Jan 20, 2020

Objective: Follow the nightmother
Equipment: Purple cloak, goggles, healing salves, knapsack with (4) small vials
Ally tags:

Tallara |

Malok |

Adron Malvern | Antoin Garrick |

Alkor Centaris |

Lunara Azure |

Alluria Ivalice |

GL3AM |

Credius Nargath |

Kyber |

Xazzex Xivar |

Luna Terrik |
Enemies tags:

Arwen Hadd |

Kovhorn |

Hacks |

Soloman Priest |
Post: #1

A particularly interesting root had caught the young witch’s attention when the Nightmother had called. She had spent the majority of the past night slicing, cutting, and finally resorting to tear apart the root after the first two proved very ineffective against it’s tough skin. Inside, a golden colored sap lay crystalized into a tough substance, almost rock like in nature. It was as if the root had provided a perfect little cocoon for the sap to fully crystalize into something more useful, providing a tough interior for the root to form around. Despite how smooth the rock looked, it did seemingly have a few tiny holes to let moisture through, providing the root both strength and nutrient passage. And luckily enough for Shamira, the root was from one of the trees on Ryloth, meaning gathering more would be simple to progress her studies.

She had planned on going out and gathering some more roots of this particular tree, perhaps from deeper in the ground to compare to the room she had been able to cut open from the surface, when the call from the nightmother had come in. Her head shot up from the workbench, goggles slipping down from one eye as she listened to the call. “Geonosis?” Muttering to herself, musing over what she had learned of the planet from her limited time with the mandrogora. It was a desert world, supposedly the capital of this Confederacy as well. If someone was attacking it, then it was probably of importance, and it would be a good idea for her to go.

Grabbing what healing salves she had made recently, hoping to put them to use, she made her way to the courtyard with as much speed as she could muster. This castle was still a confusing mess at times to the young witch, but Sha was getting better at navigating it. Just had to imagine where you wanted to go. Simple enough, except when you didn’t know what where you wanted to go looked like. An annoying problem indeed when you were trying to hurry somewhere.

Regardless, Shamira was able to make it just on time, hurrying to the back of the group as they entered into the portal. The things still made her feel tingly. Traveling from one place to another in such a way worked quite well for the Mandrogora’s purposes, and might even be commonplace to them, but the method of travel had been just a myth on Shamira’s planet. When they came out the other side, they were certainly in a much different place than the gorgeous beauty that was Ryloth. But at this moment, it didn’t look like she would be allowed much of a chance to explore with the Nightmother immediately starting to give orders. For her sake, she decided to stick close to the taller witch. Perhaps her healing salves could be made of use in the viceroy chambers.

They didn’t seem to be in a hurry as the small group pushed toward what Shamira could only assume to be the chambers of the viceroyalty. She might’ve questioned why, but that would require questioning the Nightmother in this stressful time. Probably not the best idea in complete honesty. Though, she did have one question on her mind as she turned her head to glance up at the much taller witch. “Can..you tell if there are any injured? I brought my healing salves just in case.” The redhead’s combat capabilities were lacking to be sure, but she was able to make up for a lot of it with her healing ability. Especially now that she had begun to combine what was learned through the witch’s study of the plants on Ryloth with the magic Vytal taught her to create some potent pain reliefs.

Be'iqaronn · Jan 20, 2020

Location Geonosis; Golbah City
Mission: Distraction
Equipment: M808 Juggernaut Suit; M808 Grenade Launcher; R82 Precision Rifle; Cortosis Gauntlets; Kinetic Blade; XR-18 Revolver
Tags:

Arwen Hadd

Cassus Akovin

Kovhorn

Aloy Vizsla
Enemy tags (I’m assuming):

Alkor Centaris

Alluria Ivalice

Renn walked down the streets, they get empty, though the crowd could be heard. Currently he was following one out of the city. There he’d get to his ship and escape, they probably should’ve just executed the target, he would’ve. An officer came around the corner to a bullet in his head, Renn leaned down at the body. “If people like you weren’t so stupid, you’d be standing before me now.”

Loading an explosive round in Renn just heard the sounds of speeders behind him. So ducking into an alley, he hid in the shadows. His revolver now was away, dagger out. The place was eerily quiet, the crowd was too far, and the sounds of small animals scurrying away from the danger of his feet as he moved forward. The three men who had the bikes stood there searching. Renn walked up behind one and slit his throat, alerting the other two. Both were taken out by two revolver shots. Two more explosive rounds.

The bikes were in good condition, not too low on power. Hoping on he sped, he hurried to a small crowd, about five to seven members. Their screams of his coming were soon silent. Renn walked closer to the border cleaning his blood soaked dagger as he walked.

Amelia von Sorenn · Jan 20, 2020

Allies:

Malok |

Kyber |

Kiff Brayde |

GL3AM |

Luna Terrik

Unknown Element:

Koda Fett

Foes:

Kovhorn |

Xazzex Xivar Caesar Kenway

Hacks |

Sam Rodarch

Location: The E'care Shukur || Geonosis System

The Pale Exarch Calls

The Capital Armada was never too far from home; rather it had been carefully organized and partitioned so that it was capable of reaching out into the neighboring systems that it protected at a moments notice. It was only the center of the fleet, the command group that shifted from these various other bases and it was in transition when the call came to the looming Flagship. For when the Pale Exarch called upon its commander, not a single word need be spoken by the woman, the crew immediately set their course for Geonosis.

Red lights flickered to life, flooding the room in their hue of crimson sanguine and pushing the darkness to the far corners where it would bide its time. A soft hissing filled the room as the sarcophagus slowly opened, the lid splitting into two pieces that slid to the sides. Breath was drawn in quickly as the woman pulled herself free; golden hues falling upon the armored individuals before her.

"You have been summoned ma'am, Geonosis is under attack."

Normally the woman would have been rather perturbed at being awoke too early, though this was a special case, for the heart of the Confederacy was being assaulted and that could not be permitted to stand.

"The fleet is already en route."

"We should arrive shortly."

Nodding quietly, it took her a moment to regain her full faculties before stretching slowly. A soft smirk drew upon her lips as she stepped forward, brazen in her lack of clothing or her caring that others saw her scared body born bare.

"My armor, for one should not appear before the Exarch bare."

It was almost as if she were joking, for surely she was one of perhaps very few in the galaxy that would have such confidence as to appear in such a state before Srina. In the mean time a simple message would have to suffice for the Exarch before a proper face to face was needed. Rolling her shoulders slowly, she carefully dawned the bodysuit while giving the command to broadcast a message that would soon roll from her lips into existence.

"The E'care Shukur shall protect the heart of the Confederacy. Geonosis shall be blockaded with Interdictor Cruisers; none shall leave the system."

Space shimmered and buckled for a moment before the lumbering vessel dropped back into real space, and if noise could travel in the vacuum, it was likely that one could hear the Infernal Breaker growling and roaring as it arrived. Shortly after it was joined by smaller Cruisers, taken from the Hellknights themselves and commanded by their host, Interdictors - a move to ensure that no vessel would simply jump from the system.

If anything - it could be said - that those that were in command of the Confederacy's forces knew when to drop the proverbial hammer.

Arwen Hadd · Jan 20, 2020

Location: Geonosis, Golbah City
Mission: Just don’t
Allies:

Be'iqaronn
Politicians:

Malok

Valencia Hadley

Kyber

Tsian Denira

He wasn’t an idiot. Ok well that was obviously a lie. If he wasn’t an idiot he wouldn’t be here. But he wasn’t dumb enough to think he could get away from his face getting blown off while wielding an weak blaster and heavily injured. So, he did as they figured he would.

He saw the big scary squad of trained soldiers led by

Luna Terrik and tossed his blaster to the side, collapsed to the ground face up and raised one of his arms, muttering out a, “I surrender.” He wasn’t in the position to do much else other then contemplate just how boned he was.

John Locke · Jan 20, 2020

Location: Ministry of Science - Golbah City, Genosis
Objective: Cyber Security
Companion: EX (AI)

Tagging:

Allies:

Nyx N1X3 |

Kiff Brayde

Engaging:

Hacks |

Sam Rodarch

The assistance of Nyx proved to be an unexpected bonus, the droid glowing in John’s vision, the data streaming away from her to wrap into the datastreams. He could see the damage cause by the intrusion reinforced and repaired before his very eyes, system functionality coming back as the AI went to work.

The assistance freed the cyborg up to focus on the hacker and locking them down before they could do anymore damage. It was a partnership that would allow him to focus all his attention where it was needed, while being reassured that his friends and allies wouldn’t be left in the lurch.

As important as focusing on the hacker was, John didn’t intend to leave Nyx entirely on her own to face the task of rebuilding the systems damaged in the cyber tussle. It wouldn’t be fair, not would it be right for him to ask that of her.

“EX, re-route the processing power from Halo station to Nyx.”

It wasn’t much, but the power boost that Nyx could get from an entire space station’s processers should provide a welcome respite and make her life just a little bit easier. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any nasty surprises left behind, but from the slicer’s reactions, it seemed they had been spotted before they managed to get too far into the CIS’ systems.

However, John still had to deal with the slicer who had dared to try to penetrate the Citadel’s systems. The slicer who from the looks of it was trying to extract themselves from the firewalls he’d dropped around their position. The DDos he’d launched vanishing as his opponent manipulated the data, wiping swathes of it out of existence each second. For a moment John felt guilty, in order to protect the Confederacy he’d thrown the masses of the citizens data at the slicer, data they’d now lost unless someone could recover it.

Guilty for a moment, but that data had slowed the slice just long enough for him to block their attack, to prevent them from carry out their task. John could feel the power of EX like a cloud all around him, closing his eyes for a moment as he rapidly manipulated the code, launching the viruses into the ether, like missiles homing in on their target. Anything to slow the hacker, to track them back to their source, a trojan horse that would dial out to the incoming forces and help them hone in on their target.

For this moment, caught in the world of the code the man’s attention was fully occupied, was fully engaged. For now he didn’t feel so lonely, didn’t have the time too.

Kiff Brayde · Jan 20, 2020

GOLBAH CITY
CIS:

Malok |

Kyber |

Amelia von Sorenn
FOE:

Kovhorn |

Hacks |

Sam Rodarch

The Defense Force transport raced through the city as smoke, explosions and screams all meshed together to create an impermeable wall of chaos that surrounded Kiff. One hand attached to a hook that hung from the ceiling, the High Marshal looked out onto the capital of the Confederacy, watching it burn as his transport sped through the night sky. This type of thing was supposed to be impossible; the Confederacy was supposed to be impenetrable, and its capital was supposed to be the untouchable command post of the entire operation. Sure, there had been protocols if an invading force had ever been able to puncture so deep into Confederate space, but that had been deemed impossible in the current state of the Galaxy by nearly the entirety of the Defense Force command. But nevertheless here Kiff was, watching Golbah City be engulfed in flames.

Kiff's thoughts were interrupted by one of the commando droids, the captain that had spoken to him earlier. "High Marshal, DFCOM reports that a single ship has entered airspace above the Royal Sector. Scans indicate that it is a GS-77 Tsrotzhu-class Multipurpose Gunship owned by a Mandalorian by the name of

Soloman Priest . Your orders, sir?" The vocoder of the commando droid was much lower than the standard B1 model of droid, which Kiff found added both levity and an element of intimidation whenever they were deployed.

"Shoot it down," Kiff said in a low tone. "How long before starfighter reinforcements converge on its vector?" Kiff asked as the night air whipped through his hair, the humming of the transport and noise of the wind rushing through the speeder nearly drowning out both of their words.

"DFCOM suggests its a matter of seconds, sir," the droid replied.

"Good. Inform DFCOM that they are authorized to use lethal force to ground that ship. Remember, I want no one leaving Golbah City -- the people who instigated this will feel the might of Confederate justice," Kiff said with note of finality in his voice. The Commando Droid nodded and Kiff turned back to look out of the open bay door as the city passed beneath them. "Captain, how long before we reach our target?" He said aside to the droid.

"Less than a minute, sir. Droid and Dauntless reinforcements are en route as well," the droid replied. Kiff nodded and checked his pistol, making sure that all was working before putting it back in its holster clip on his belt. The last time he'd fought in a ground engagement had been Rugosa, and he'd nearly died in the dirt-choked tunnels of the crumbling Confederacy base. Hopefully whatever target they had that was now hiding in the Sprawl sector of the city wouldn't put up as much of a fight. Kiff had just gotten out of the hospital; he had no intention to go back in so soon.

The lights and tall skyscrapers of the Hub faded to old, dilapidated buildings and worn-down tenements, leaving no doubt that they had crossed into the Sprawl. Pulling up a small tactical holomap display from the side of the transport, Kiff found the red dot that marked their target. It wasn't even a skyscraper, but a home which records shown had been deemed unsuitable for habitation and had then been closed off. Not the most comfortable base of operations, but Kiff had to reason that the privacy had probably been the reason why they hadn't been found out by now. The transport began to slow, softening its repulsordrive as it began to hover over the target building. "High Marshal, biosignature scans reveal one life form in the buildings. How shall we proceed?"

Kiff unhooked his pistol, sliding his forefinger through the trigger grip. "Create a perimeter and lock onto that biosignature. This slicer may be of more use to us alive than dead," he said as he checked that all his gear was in place before taking a running leap into the air below him. The captain nodded, and wordlessly the rest of the commando droid squad activated. Following the High Marshal's lead, the commando droids one by one dropped onto the ground below them before silently filing out to surround the house. It now looked like Kiff was left alone, but he had a plan for how to deal with this certain piece of scum. It was at that moment that he found himself grateful for the sound projection systems that were installed on standard Confederacy troop transports.

Raising his pistol towards the darkened house in one hand, he used his other to key his transponder to the still-hovering transport's sound projection system before speaking into it, his voice amplified several times over to be well heard within the building. "Attention resident, this is High Marshal Kiff Brayde of the Confederacy Defense Force. You are surrounded by a team of elite commando droids, and any type of resistance will be met with swift and lethal force. I recommend you surrender yourself if you wish to preserve your life; if you choose not to, I will happily terminate your life on the spot in retribution for the civilians killed or harmed by your actions, indirect or otherwise."

Aloy Vizsla · Jan 20, 2020

Joti was in fact not affected by force memery because of that thing she wears that keeps them out of her head which is linked in her bio, she was concerned however that she had lost a lot of time because she had either blacked out for a moment or the writer who controls the digital entity known as joti didn't get back to her until it was beyond too late.
Seeing as everyone else had either karked off or otherwise preoccupied with their own devices and joti hadn't done much of anything and was still hidden, she decides to recall her ship, board it, and nope the kark out of the system while she still could, cause, as the code states: No bounty is worth dying for.

Alkor Centaris · Jan 20, 2020

Location: Golbah City, approaching Chaos
Tags:

Be'iqaronn

The lift stalled more than three meters from the hot zone. A whine of protest from the machinery heralded a message about safety protocols and redundancy. It slid to a halt and landed, gracelessly and with a jarring impact. Alkor leapt out even as it attempted to throw him and capitalized on the momentum to propel himself toward the source of the smoke.

His legs braced and the recoil of his impromptu landing sent a jolt through the Jen'jidai. Nevertheless, focused on his pain and feeding off of it, he drove himself to the edge of the scene. Adrenaline and rage screamed in his veins now, longing for Alkor to put them to use.

He understood the power of hot iron, but knew the fury of allowing it to cool. It would be easy to let himself explode now, to lose himself in mindless rage. But that was not the way.

No.

Someone was going to pay for this. As he recovered and got back up to speed, Alkor's senses went wild. The numbness that set on with the pain became sharpness. Acute tingling in the back of his mind that took shape as he encroached on the wreckage. Souls that departed bodies prematurely lingered over their former hosts, and the hostility that severed their ties permeated their surroundings.

To most, it was no more than a tragedy. For Alkor Centaris, it was a trail. The bloodscent manifested before his eyes as a thick red smoke, which he instinctively followed. It hastily thinned as he did, inferring that the target was moving swiftly away. The trail was fast growing cold.

He could not hear the whine of the speeder bike, but he smelled the familiar oil and electronics that burned and fueled it's power cells. He could not see the footsteps, but he could feel the weight they carried. Lives reaped by a human being became burdens. Alkor knew them like a lover.

He could not hope to catch up quickly. Instead, he hurried along and extended his senses, a net in the water, waiting. The fear, the carnage, the desperation of the fleeing target...

Even if he meant to hide, Alkor would find him.

Alkor always found them.

Valencia Hadley · Jan 20, 2020

What a fething mess.

It seemed she'd only had a moment, reaching to gently lay a hand upon the frazzled looking young courier, before all hell broke loose. Between Force blasts and lightsabers, and echoing voices in her mind, the former Viceroy was momentarily stunned. Which was an unfortunate way to be when a Knight was about to engage in battle mere inches from you...

As

Kyyrk made to charge at the pair of young men, the one (

Arwen Hadd ) who had been grabbing for her had managed to gain purchase on the arm she'd used to steady the man. It meant that when the Knight used that massive blast of Force to push the pair back, so too went the Councillor. The trio went flying backwards, a great deal of pain now emanating from Valencia's shoulder where, doubtlessly, her arm had been jarred from the socket. Eyes widened in shock as the blade of a saber flared to life inches from the now sprawled pair on the floor and stuck at the hunter to her side. There were blessings galore this day that the people the Confederacy kept on their roster were skilled - because had she tumbled a few inches to the right she doubted very much she'd have missed that swing.

The young man who'd pulled her with him then took liberties with his own safety and threw himself from a window, which was most promptly then swallowed by tendrils of darkness that grew like perverted vines across the shattered opening - snuffing out the soft breeze that blew in, as well as the light. She blinked, stunned for a moment as the voice of Exarch

Srina Talon whispered through her mind... They were here for her? Gods above...

Wincing at the muted agony that now suffused her left side, the blonde slowly began to push herself up, noting that despite the ridiculous surge of action, neither the Vicelord nor the other Exarch in the booth had seen fit to offer her a hand... Gentlemen, the lot. Getting her feet below her, pale blue eyes shifted to regard the last of the strangers that remained with their party inside of the box. A heavy sigh escaped her as she noted the young man now held at the end of an ignited saber and likely regretting the choices that had led to him meeting her that day.

She could hear the voice of the Exarch from behind her, the instructions painfully clear, and unlikely to be ignored by

Cassus Akovin - surrender was the only sane option, and she hoped that he'd choose it. As stillness began to settle in the looming darkness that the emergency lighting was fighting to push back, the battered and bruised former Viceroy made sure to keep her distance but spoke clearly to the remaining 'courier' in the box with them.

"It would behoove you, young man, to drop whatever weapons you've got and surrender. You've fumbled your way into the poor graces of too many members of the Knight's Obsidian to be getting out of here in one piece otherwise, and that's not to mention that the others in this pod here with me are the heads of state for the Confederacy." Valencia turned her attention then to the pale spectre of an Exarch that stood nearby, giving the woman a small nod. "Thank you, Exarch Talon," eyes turned then to the pair of Knights that had joined them in the booth, "and to you both (

Kyyrk &

Tallara )."

Carefully the blonde moved herself to an empty chair and slid herself into it, her left hand rising to gently lay across her shoulder where it had been damaged and hissing a breath in through her teeth as she did. Oh yes... Something in there wasn't doing well.

Gerwald Lechner · Jan 20, 2020

Location: en route to the slicer
Wearing: Birthday Suit
Weapon: Obsidian Lightsaber
Engaging

Sam Rodarch

Srina Talon could not have been more clear in her instructions. She did not need his protection or service as a war mount, she needed him to kill. A wolfish grin tugged at the furry snout of the beast as he seemed to nod and run off toward the nearest wall repository to secure at least a weapon of some kind. His words once again traveled to the mind of his mistress, not wanting to leave her command unanswered.

"Perhaps some armor that will shift with me would be a suitable reward," he suggested.

For all the technological skill the Confederacy possesed there had to be someone with the mind to figure out a way in which armor that would sift with the lupine could be achieved. While the Exarch had more than earned Gerwald's loyalty and obedience, if she was serious about a reward in exchange for a trophy, then the armor would do. Besides, it would save the lupine from rushing into battle in nothing but his bare skin, and would keep innocent eyes from being marred for life.

The wolf stood six feet and seven inches as a human, as bare as the day he was born. Opening the wall repository and grabbing a lightsaber the lupine cursed to find the average size of the armor too small for his size. Bare feet ran through the city as his keen sense of smell and use of force sense locked onto the location of the hacker. There would be a guard protecting them no doubt, and Gerwald intended on returning with some kind of trophy for the Exarch. A com device had also been secured and tuned to the Confederate frequency. There was little time to waste as the chatter centered around keeping the hacker from doing any further damage to their systems.

Kiff Brayde could be overheard searching for the hacker as well, so Gerwald centered on his location. When Gerwald arrived he moved through the building searching for

Sam Rodarch , the hacker's protector. If they were still in the area, Gerwald meant to engage them. Brandishing the purple blade of the lightsaber, the lupine came into view.

"You're more than outnumbered, and outmatched here," Gerwald said with a chuckle noting the irony of his appearance. "I'd suggest you collect your friend and be off before I make the decision for you."

Other Tags:

Malok |

Kyber |

Koda Fett |

Kiff Brayde |

GL3AM |

Luna Terrik |

Kovhorn |