Iron Unbent
Coruscant was a twisting dagger to the gut of the Galaxy. It unfurled as many questions as it did provide answers. The trial of the will was upon them. This short respite following the Third Imperial Civil War was struck down in moments at Carlac and the inhale that followed would see an exhale of struggle in its wake. Rurik Fel would have to lead the Empire in crusade once more. But even so- did the Empire’s wounds ache and continue to bleed.
In the Hand of Thrawn- the pinnacle of the Empire’s foundation, the halls of which the few gave their Declaration of Defiance- Rurik sought to speak of the former lord of this fiefdom, his half-kin, Lucien Dooku. He’d heard of his awakening from his bacta slumber recently and with it, his inevitable re-emergence into the sphere of the Empire- where he’d spent a length absent from be it at the side of his lover or in the dust and rubble of his native Carannia in Serenno.
Rurik summoned him to the Hand of Thrawn, as his First Crusade Fleet patrolled the local space, to speak with his brother once more of an Empire nestled in impending strife.
“I know I ask a great deal in the wake of your injuries...but the end of your reprieve is nigh, brother.” He said, glancing over a Galactic scale holomap with crossed arms before shifting his gaze in the direction of Dooku.
“You’ve recovered well enough, I can assume?” He inquired, arching a brow beneath his iron visage.
Lucien gave a nod, his hand clenched into a solid fist with little effort in comparison to when the prosthesis were first installed. “Yeah.” The reply that followed was accompanied with the removal of his lightsaber from his belt.
Clenched tightly within his hand, Lucien ignited the cobalt blade, staring into the beam of plasma that floated in front of his eyes. “I’ve got the feeling in my hands back. Just in time, it seems.”
“Good. You were at death’s door on Coruscant...I’ve been there as well. It is no small feat to recover in the time you have.” Rurik stated as he looked to the cobalt saber ignited in Lucien’s hands.
“None of us can falter in this fight to come. The Galaxy burns...the flames creep toward our Empire. If we will have any hope to stop the coming calamity...none of us can spare our arms, none of us can falter. Else...our Empire will burn all the same.” He states in foreboding coldness to match the iron visage clasped to his tortured face.
Lucien spared a glance in the direction of the Sovereign Imperator, a title that he'd need some time getting used to. It seemed as if so much had changed, despite such little time that had passed. Yet one thing remained a constant within the Empire they both helped build.
War loomed upon the horizon.
Another threat to the Imperial state came knocking upon their very doorstep, poised to strike at the very heart of where the New Imperial Order had once begun. Nirauan had evolved into the beating heart of the Pallaeonist cause, and for so long had Lucien been able to shield its citizens from the wars that plagued the Sith-Imperial frontier.
He'd never imagined another threat would emerge, far greater than the sycophants of Carnifex and his ilk, with a Sith'ari at their vanguard who just might have what it took to challenge the might of their Empire.
"Solipsis."
The name cut through clenched teeth, the light of the cobalt blade dissipating within an instant.
"I'll have his head, brother; For the Empire."
Lucien clipped his weapon back onto his belt. With a final nod of acknowledgement, the two would part ways. The Knights of the Angels of Defiance were poised to be mobilized for the coming battle, and Lucien would precipitate their readiness with haste.
"For Tavlar."
At the inflection point of an Empire- words were like the wind without action to pay them heed. As much as Rurik was a careful, methodical man- there was only so much that could be done in navigating the winds of chaos before him. The Maw were those winds made manifest. Nirauan the next catalyst for tragedy in Imperial space. Had Rurik not noted this in anticipation as one of many possible targets the Maw would be next to strike. As much as they were an iconoclastic regime, they clearly sought the long standing symbols of the Galactic's greatest powers. With Bastion proven unyielding from Imperial grasp twice over now, Nirauan was a target just as fitting. The seat of the New Imperial Order's government in-exile at the command of Irveric Tavlar , there was no venue for destruction no better fitting to the rules of the game that the Maw played time and time again.
No level of planning or anticipation would win them this war. The struggle before them would be mastered purely by will of heart and arms. Darkness loomed over Nirauan for the first time since the Iron Sun rose in its first dawn over the world. It always carried a familiar stench, each scion of dark power tracing its unique signature in the Force. Unalienably unique in its flavor of profane.
One familiarity struck a nerve harsher than the rest. He remembered it on Bastion...Dantooine. The spawn of Zambrano marched with the bringers of chaos. Here. To him.
As the New Sith Order ruptured unto the Hand of Thrawn in force and fury, troopers and Imperial Knights spreading out to cross the gaps and bring reprisal in steel to the Maw who'd come to clasp its jaws unto the once Heart of the Empire.
"Once more to battle, my knights. No quarter to the parasite that defiles our. We are the bringers of vengeance. We are the will of the Empire. They will pay...and they will die." Rurik spoke in command to the Imperial Knights through their linked comms inbuilt into the argent steel each of them donned.
He sensed that presence growing closer. He would be at odds with that darkness at the end of his argent blade again. He would never unprepared for these moments of trial and strife, not any longer.
His vantabright blade came alight with a smooth hiss of the kyber ignition. He narrowed his eyes in harrowing silence as he sought out the presence in the Force. Through the halls of the Hand of Thrawn, he walked with foreboding, heavy, metallic footfalls with his blade clutched tightly in his cybernetic hand, blade secured in a grasp of heavy metal.
The door giving way to the hall of the Empire's foundation, the once throne room of Mitth'raw'nuordo opened before him. With the sense of his motion, dim lights came to life as he waited, his focus honed in on a growing darkness. Mori. Death.