Why Are There So Many Dominions? [CIS Dominion of Styx]

[Darth Metus]

"Nothing the Shapers and the Cloners can't fix." said the Mandalorian with confidence, ducking his head behind his makeshift cover before returning fire relentlessly. This time, his Shock slugs served the purpose of revealing some of the enemy positions, for once they impacted the metal frame, the electrical charge erupted about the entirety of the body. Blue sparks then illuminated the area, giving Isley a rough estimate of just how much hell the duo was dealing with. Then, when Calico uttered his thoughts, the Mandalorian could not help but agree. After all, the calvary always arrives to defend the castle, no? With that thought in mind, Isley reached for his utility belt and produced a sonic grenade, released the pin, and hurled it into the horde of droids.

There was a beeping din, and Isley called: "Get down!"

 

[Darth Metus]

It took a few minutes for the starfighters to make their respective voyages back to the hangars from whence they came. Upon arrival, the helmsman gave verbal confirmation to the Archmaster, who then nodded in response to the news. "Alright, commence locking onto targets. We're hitting the southern quadrants now." he said. To this end, the holographic projection on the map updated as the weapons began to lock onto the defensive emplacements once more. Crimson circles erupted into being on the azure projection, and Josiah already knew the end result of his giving the order. They would face utter annihilation, and he was perfectly fine with that.

 

[Revenchent]

Calico's body moved before his brain could register what was happening. One moment; he was spraying freedom and justice with heavy laserfire, the next, he was on the ground with his hands over his head. The Commander could feel the EMP send the whole room rocking. The automated screams of the spider droids were haunting in Calico's ears as they were literally burned from the inside out. There was no damage to living tissue; no violent wrecking or anything of the sort. Instead, it was an eerie silence.

The Commander stood up and stared at the electrified, still twitching bodies of the spider droids. Organic or not; it still set his stomach on a tumble ride. "Sigma, Alpha, report."

Calico stood in silence for a moment as he listened. Then, he began to take a swift stride toward where the aggressors had originated from. It was time to burn down their metaphorical holy temple. "Sigma just about has the mainframe under control. Galaar is closing in on security. Alpha has a man unaccounted for, but are otherwise operational. The LAAT is all together." He rattled off in an orderly, albeit regretful fashion. He hated losing soldiers; and clung to the hope that the missing man was just that--missing.

 

[Darth Metus]

The sonic grenade had done its job remarkably well. After the beeping countdown had concluded, it released an exceptional burst of force which had all but decimated the droid's. When the metal stopped falling from the ceiling, the Mandalorian rose from his cover and stepped over to his comrade, who then gave a report. "See if anyone can't interface with his HUD and locate his position." came the initial suggestion of the Mandalorian, his tone calm, despite the obvious worry. He, to, hated losing men; especially men who'd gladly give their lives for a cause he championed. "If that doesn't work, we'll just have to slice into the mainframe at the Bridge and see if the security systems have a recording of where he disappeared to. We're not losing anyone today dammit." While unrealistic, his words spoke true of the fierce loyalty Isley had to his subordinates.

"Alright, let's push forward. The Spiders were coming from above and north, so there's gotta be stairs around here..."

 

[Darth Metus]

Once all the crimson circles had manifested into the view of the Archmaster, his voice sounded forth with confidence. He was, as had become typical, barking the command to fire. Once his order had entered the open air, it was relayed down to the gunners, who then finalized their aiming procedures and unleashed hell upon the defensive emplacements below. There were several explosions which erupted into being, and the defenses below were wiped out in a matter of seconds. There was not much more resistance to be had from this moon, only a single quadrant left...but there were still a pair of other moons to attend to, both just as deadly as the one the Archmaster was currently addressing.

 

[Revenchent]

"Good man." Calico stated simply. Isley would likely give his life for his soldiers. That was a trait Calico could certainly follow. The Commander strode on down the corridor; sifting through the spider droids' bodies with a careful intent. He really didn't want to set off any explosive devices.

He's right. We check the mainframe and we might find that di'kut.

Calico rounded another corner and came upon an old, rusted set of stairs. It clearly had not been well maintained. A very noticeable security camera was sitting on a pedestal around two meters above the highest step; which led to a wide darkened room that the Commando couldn't discern just yet. "HUD sync failed Sir. I'll put Oddball on the job." He grumbled; reaching the top of the stairs. He readied the 'Deece' with the light ornance attachment, ready to eradicate any droids who challenged their passage.

 

[Darth Metus]

The news that the HUD sync had failed was disheartening, but that simply strengthened the Mandalorian's resolve to find some golden nugget within the central mainframe that would lead them to their missing comrade. With this goal in mind, Isley ascended the stairs, machine pistol at the ready, and continuously relied upon his motion scanners in order to give him that unspoken edge over whatever automated defenses laid in wait. There was a camera in place as the duo ascended the stairs and rounded the corner, which caused the Mandalorian to raise his eyebrows. "Yep, Camera. We can definitely get some security footage if we slice into the right place." he said, stepping lively.

Now, there were only a few steps left until they reached the top of the stairs.

 

[Darth Metus]

Once the third to last of the first moon's quadrants had been addressed, straightway the Archmaster ordered the process repeated. The crimson circles began to re-appear before his eyes on the holographic projection, denoting that the various crewmembers had locked onto their targets. There was no tarrying this time, however, for this moon needed to be cleared as quickly as possible. With that thought in mind, Josiah uttered a single word as a bark: "Fire!" and the Long-Range Turbolasers began to do that which they did best. The emplacements constructed into the surface of the moon did not stand even a sliver of a chance.

 

[Revenchent]

Hopefully, Isley could climb stairs correctly. Hopefully. The Sith Lord-Mando-thing took his sweet time climbing those damn stairs. Calico stood at the top; rolling on the balls of his heels. He decided clearing the room could simply fall to him. The Commander burst into the blackened room with his rifle pointed outward. Movement was everywhere. Two massive spider droids popped up on eight giant legs; easily the size of an average speeder. A small horde of dwarf spiders accompanied them; surrounding the many control consoles that the bridge hosted. One console right in the center looked out to a glass window depicting the battle outside.

Calico rolled behind a wayward terminal before he was seen.

That battle looks like a damn art piece.

"Keep your head down Sir! More than a few contacts."

 

[Darth Metus]

It was time for the Sith Lord-Mando-Thing to show off. Striding forth with the utmost confidence, he stowed one of his machine pistols upon his utility belt and casually flicked the liberated hand forward. From his fingertips then leapt a bolt of Force Lightning, which utterly fried one of the larger spiders to a crisp. It sputters and convulsed before falling to the ground, crushing a pair of the dwarves in the process. Isley then repeated this motion, taking out the second large spider, before relying upon his machine pistol to clear some of the dwarves. Of course, just as he began to finish up the job, even more large spiders climbed down from out of nowhere.

"Kark...Looks like we must be coming up on a treasure trove." he said calmly.

 

[Darth Metus]

Once the explosions had concluded, the Archmaster called for a report. Scans were taken of the satellite's surface, only to reveal that the repeated tactic had been immensely successful. The totality of the defensive emplacements had been eradicated; leaving two moons left to deal with. Once the report had been received, Josiah gave the go ahead to adjust the task force's position so that they might repeat the tactic with the next moon. Slowly, but surely, the task force responded to his order and slid across the black of space until they came to a halt, just outside of the next target's range. The tactic would be lathered, rinsed, and repeated until all three moons were clear.

 

[Revenchent]

"That's overkill. You know that, don't you?" Calico growled; sending a ball of flaming death toward the Spider Horde. The machines exploded into flaming metal pieces as the explosive ordnance did its job down to the fine print. Calico whooped.

"Hopefully the terminals near that weren't important...watch your flank adi'ike." Calico roared over the comms; turning his Deece on the horde. More than a few had begun to flow toward Isley in a bid to decapitated him from behind. Six quick bursts put the trio of spider droids down in screaming metal heaps. "Any fancy ideas Sir? Sigma has the central mainframe. They're digging in now. No word from the animal shelter though."

 

[Darth Metus]

"This is war, there's no such thing as Overkill!" came the apt response of the Mandalorian, whilst he ducked just out of the way. From this point, Isley then utilized the Force in order to telekinetically bludgeon his enemies. First, he sent a trio of dwarves colliding into a "soldier" spider, which resulted in a sizeable explosion. This consumed the forms of the dwarves attempting to march their way across the floor towards the duo. From that point, Isley set about slinging spider into spider until the enemy number thinned out considerably. "Give me some cover fire, I'm going to try access the central mainframe. See if I can't give us a little relief from these damn bugs."

With that said, he rushed forward, zig-zagging through the horde until he skidded to a halt before the console.

 

[Darth Metus]

Once the task force had arrived at the opportune location, the Archmaster gave the order once more. The surface of the moon was partitioned into four quadrants, just like its predecessor, and the myriad of crimson circles appeared. As before, these designated the locking on of the Long-Range Turbolasers, and once more it fell upon the Archmaster to give the order to fire. Once the emplacements had been sufficiently marked for destruction, Josiah did just that, boldly proclaiming the single word which brought about an ungodly judgment from the Confederate taskforce. "Fire!"

 

[Revenchent]

Calico decided that spider droids were di'kuts. Di'kuts in every possible sense of the word.

He retracted his wrist sprung vibroblade from the eye of one droid; slamming another into shattered metal pieces under his armored boot. There was no stopping the Commander of the Dread Legion. "Already on it!" He roared; flicking on the fully automatic setting on the Deece. The commander bobbed and weaved around terminals as he systamatically sliced and stomped the smaller droids. The more moderate sized aggressors were met with powerful arcs of laserfire--effectively keeping them from Isley.

He was in the theoretical zone. It was all a blur: shoot here, slash there, stomp that. There was nowhere Calico would rather be-even though his chest was pulsing with pain. There would likely be some rather heavy bruising on his chest now. "We really need kill counters for the buy'ce's!"

 

[Darth Metus]

As the Mandalorian's comrade set about providing him cover from the horde of spider droids, Isley set his focus upon interfacing with the console. He produced his micro-datapad once more and began to key in commands so that he might attempt to slice into the mainframe. Of course, this was no karking door mechanism, so it would take time and effort to crack the firewalls and other protective measures. Time was of the absolute essence, however, and the Mandalorian's fingers danced upon the console in a near-blur; for he was eager to alleviate his ally from the horde's assault. Finally, with a stroke of luck mingled with skill, Isley was able to circumvent the password barracades and enter the mainframe, to which he naviagated to the Security hub.

He input a single command: Shutdown. And in response, the droids halted their movements on the spot...and Isley breathed a sigh of relief. "Bloody hell..." he muttered. "You good, Vod?"

 

[Darth Metus]

One by one, the hundreds of turbolaser cannons began to project swift-moving bursts of energy. These bolts of wrath traversed the black of space in the blink of an eye, before impacting the moon-based, defensive emplacements with mighty force. Metal was melted, chemicals ignited an exploded, and from where the Archmaster was standing the attack was going well. It did not take long for this quadrant to fall under the wrath of the task force's cannons, and soon the entirety of the moon and its compatriot would be cleansed from the presence of these emplacements. All that stood between this result and the present were a handful more quadrants.

 

[Revenchent]

"I look good in droid oil; right?" Calico called out louder than he really needed. The Commando stood in a pool of golden industrial oil, kicking away the inactive husks that were once menacting aggressors. He reached down to scoop up one of the smaller droids--and tossed it off toward the corridor they had come from.

His armor was battered and wore multiple dark claw markings where paint had been chipped away. The gray outline from the cannon fire was still imprinted on his chestplate. "I assume that was space magic?" He grumbled, clipping the Deece to his thigh. The Commander reached up to his helmet; manually scrolling through the various comm channels "The droids have ceased assault. Alpha is en route to the LAAT. Sigma as well; they have some rather fancy toys."

Calico turned toward the corridor, a single sidearm in his hands. "Galaar is hauling out too. Wonder how the space assault is playing out."

 

[Darth Metus]

"Oh yeah, that's a good look for you. All lubricated and such." joked the Mandalorian before turning his full attention to the mainframe. "And no, to answer your question Vod, that was not space magic. That was simply slicing." Once the response had sounded from his lips, he began tapping upon his micro-datapad in order to bring up a menu of the mainframe's contents. There was an immense sum of information here, but the thought of the space battle set Isley's mind to look up what the Sith were conjuring in terms of capital ships. A few well placed taps on the screen resulted in the revealing of a small "folder" of files dedicated to a single ship.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot. Schematics for a Sith ship." he said.

 

[Darth Metus]

One more quadrant fell, and then the Archmaster ordered the destruction of the next. The guns targeted, locked, and began to fire their relentless assault of energy against the mechanical menace. Soon, the moons would not have any more Sith, defensive emplacements that could potentially harrass vessels moving to and fro throughout the system. Josiah was relentless in his commands, ordering the utter decimation of these emplacements without so much as a moment's hesitation. They had to be destroyed.