Wonder of the Galaxy - TSE Dominion of Nespis VIII

[Fiolette Fortan]

Cron Drift​

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Objective II​

HIMS Elidibus​

[member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="Keira Cerdulan"]​

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWOevmb4noY[/media]​

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"Ah, but it holds such a mysterious charm and an eloquant beauty such as yourself," Fiolette complimented with a wink, her blue eyes spoke to a mischievous undertone just as she departed their quarters. Brightly lit corridors wide with just enough room for troops to rush through, the sound of her boots against the durasteel. Lights reflected from the floor as it created a quiet shadow that marched along with the Rear Admiral. A number of crewers and officers walked to and fro each one stopped to salute, rushing away once they were dismissed by the Rear Admiral and her beau.

Yes, it was essential to obtain control over the Cron Drift. With an ever-expanding empire that hungered for more resources, any pirates or smugglers who lingered in the area would soon find the might of the Sith-Imperial Armada on their doorstep. A smirk across her face knowing that Taeli would be aboard the bridge to watch the events unfold. Hair pulled back and up above her shoulders, the fabric of her uniform smoothed out - not a part out of place. Fiolette looked over at Taeli for a moment and then returned her focus to the path before her. The lift was up ahead, the revision of the Elidibus drew near.

Once in the lift she communicated with the bridge team. "Captain Sentongo what's our status?"

"All groups report ready, Admiral," Sentongo reported as the lift rose through the Elidibus.

The massive dreadnought brought with it a mix of superiority and attack forces. Scouts were able to obtain preliminary data on the outlying dangers here within the drift but no doubt they would have to deploy their attack craft to ensure the area was secure. "We're receiving word that a smaller force has reached the drift, our pilots known as Mastiff Squadron are already engaging the enemy."

"Acknowledged, Yvarro out." Fiolette disengaged communications within the lift, just as the doors opened. The words Lord and Admiral on deck were uttered as the bridge came to attention, Fiolette returned replied with as you were. The command center that over looked the open floor plan of the bridge was ready to recieve Taeli and Fiolette both.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Location: Cron Drift, aboard the Crimson Valkyrie
Objective: [III] Hunt the Hunters, Collect the Data
In vicinity(ish): [member="Vaylin"] | [member="Enyo Typhos"] | [member="Anden Fancelo"] | [member="The Amalgam"] | [member="Mythos"]

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By Vaylin's orders the comm officer would be getting to decrypting the message that the Crimson Valkyrie had received before the zabrak gave Avacyn a nod, letting her know she was ready to get moving. Pushing the oddity that was the message aside in her mind, considering there wasn't much time to dwell on it and until they knew what its contents were, there wasn't much use for it either. The clock was ticking and so the moment the final order was relayed the woman turned on her heel. "Let's get moving, then," she said assertively, then began making her way to hangar two where the squad that had been called in had gathered to assist in the operation. The individual strength of the two Valkyries had been complimented by the soldiers' strength in numbers.

Although Avacyn outranked her fellow Valkyrie as a Sith, she had never involved herself in the military forces of the Empire. Vaylin was the one with the necessary experience and as such, despite the redhead being the leader of the group they both were a part of, the squad's leadership was firmly in the zabrak's hands. She herself would be busying herself with something more befitting of individuals or duos. "With the squad drawing most of the attention, the door will be left open to take a steathy approach. My plan is to collect the schematics and data during the inevitable firefight, then assist in taking care of the hostiles. I could use your help, but it's not required if you're looking to join the battle with the soldiers."

As they entered the hangar and came face to face with the ones who would be joining them to Epsilon 9 she took the time to take them in. They seemed to be capable at first glance, but that would have to be confirmed in action. While Vaylin did the necessary things to prepare herself and the squad for the assault, Avacyn checked her lightsabers by unclipping them and letting them move through her fingers before clipping them back. It wasn't so much to see if they were in the proper condition rather than being a bit of a ritual, even if it was purely out of habit and nothing else.

 

[Vestille Thumahra]

Vestille Thumahra​

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Space City II, Auril Sector, Nespis VIII​

Objective I :: Establish City-Wide Security​

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Their visit to Nespis was a rather passive one.

The natives of the planet had sought the assistance of the Sith Empire to provide them with the means to help protect what had been a re-imagining of what they once called 'a Wonder of the Galaxy', albeit the name was... Lacking, at best. The General and elements of the 7th had arrived within Space City II with numerous pieces of equipment to provide the people with the groundwork for the security that their piece of prosperity sorely needed. Whilst negotiations would be underway to see that the Sith Empire become official protectors of the region and provide manpower and armament sufficient enough to uphold that promise, Vestille had been assigned the duty of overseeing the installation of several turbo-laser batteries and other defensive measures to ensure that the people of Nspis VIII could at the very least protect themselves should the situation turn dire. The Sith Empire, after all, was not a babysitter-- Whilst it would provide protection, it would not pull all the weight. Thus, Vestille's work began the moment his ships deployed upon the platforms of Space City II, engineers moving to the assigned locations to install the defensive emplacements, hardened soldiers moving to the designated structure to begin training up a defense force capable of holding its own and the rest? The local government had stated that there had been issues with the population, criminals slipping through the cracks and causing trouble and yet the Government had been unable to do anything.

Within several hours, everything was fully underway. Patrols of armed men swept through the streets whilst lighter reconnaissance units went through the shortcuts and hidden passages, searching for wanted criminals. It was perhaps a more tightened and harsh visual reality to those that saw the Space City as their residence and place of work but, as the number of wanted men held in cuffs escorted by armed Legionaries grew and the general sense of safety rose, it was clear that these people appreciated the efforts by their new-found companionship with the Sith. All the while, the activation of turbolasers, installations of new law enforcement facilities and the training of a defense force continued, that was only one half of their mission. The other, handled by the more economic-savvy and diplomatic, was to forge investments into the businesses that scattered the Space City, helping the natives grow into the power that they had once been. The work was tireless but fruitful-- The General could only hope that out of the public eye, the rest of their operations were going as smoothly as the development within the city had been.

The extension of his will was out there, helping sweep dissidents under the rug.

 

[Mythos]

Location: Epsilon 9
Objective III: Hunt the hunters, collect the data. Jam the garbage disposal.
With: [member="Kaalia Pavanos"] [member="Vaylin"] [member="Enyo Typhos"] [member="Anden Fancelo"] [member="The Amalgam"]

Other than sending his signal and confirming their arrival in the drift Mythos could not yet contact his allies, now that they had come he had to move into the base which was outside. The waste disposal was external to the main base of the Force Hunters meaning in order for Mythos to escape from where he was and into the station he would need to travel in the vacuum of space and enter the station. He could not use the force, he limited himself to being entirely cut off and suppressed to remain unseen in case the force hunters used some kind of individual that would be able to sense him. Although most mandalorians and technologically superior fighters did not carry with them force users but Mythos did not take a chance.

Having sent the signal he destroyed the radio transmitter and slowly began to crawl out of the waste disposal unit, inch by inch. Every few meters he would come across some unspeakable obstacle that would slow him down and the machine at the bottom only opened every few hours to burn half. His eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness of the outside as he got closer and closer to the hatch, knowing precisely what he had to do. When the outside hatch was jammed an automaton droid and the surveillance team would come, Mythos had tested this the first day exactly as he was going to do now.

Once he arrived a few meters at the edge of the large hatch that was the only thing that sealed the inside from the death of space Mythos carefully angled his ballistic slingshot and shot a plastic dart into the control gate, missing entirely. Without the force aiming such a device was much more difficult than it looked, he used a large glob of wasted food as support for his arm, controlled his breathing with the unbearable stench and fired again only to miss again. Holding his frustration he took aim again, breathing and narrowing his eyes until he was fully comfortable, comfortable in misery with nothing to aid him but his sheer will to succeed. He fired again with his final shot, the small dart landing perfectly inside and wedging itself tight, a red light coming alive inside the gate alerting the inside of the station about a jam in the garbage disposal.

Now... all he had to do was wait, it would not be long until the repair droids and the maintenance spacer detail came to fix the jam and they usually came in groups of eight. If Mythos was correct in assuming so, the gunship that they came inside the gate with had to have a spare spacer suit or something he could use to escape undetected.

When the gate opened the vacuum of space pulled many things out that were too close, inside a rather old looking republic dual door gunship flew in as it closed behind it. Mythos had to hold on for dear life in order to keep himself from being sucked outside and as it closed keep as still as possible to avoid detection. As soon as the red light stopped blaring due to the droids fixing the obstruction the gunship ramp fell down as the rather annoyed looking humanoids walked outside into the waste dump. They wore no complete space suits, only oxygen tanks and mandalorian trooper armor, the kind of setup one would see for marine assaults, they could survive but not for an extended period of time.

"What's wrong with it now!?" A voice shouted from the group, Mythos slowly making it out to be a large male leading the pack, his anger directed at the droids. Behind him were a total of seven other mandalorians that were chosen for this little detail, Mythos could imagine them not being too thrilled about being designated to such a lowly labor. The droids barked back a response, showing the obstruction being his plastic dart that in this place was nearly unmistakable from any other piece of trash. "Must have been another piece of junk in this pile Othus" Another voice spoke, this time a female tailing the group with a rather large looking flame tipped device, he had seen those before. If they decided to torch the place down Mythos would find it much more difficult to sneak anything off that ship. Slowly he began crawling to the right edge of it, inching his way through the garbage so that he could not be detected until he was able to put a large blob of garbage and bodies between himself and the crew, now he stood up slowly propping his body against the filth and drawing his weapon. He could not kill them, they would notice them gone but if they detected him their absence would give him enough time to escape.

Moving quickly he bounded the corner and approached the ship, the inside of it open as the dual hatched gunship landed. It was the first time he touched something clean in three days but he could not focus on that even if he sorely missed it, peaking over the hatches he saw the Mandalorians huddled over. Taking advantage of this he looked inside and saw what he was here for, an oxygen pack and the remains of a broken suit, more than enough to survive perhaps a minute. Without hesitation he grabbed what he needed and bounded back into the filth, careful to not sully the inside of the mask as best he could.

They would notice what he took only far too late if they did at all, Mythos waited for their ship to leave deep in the darkness of the disposal and prepared to make his escape.

 

[Vaylin]

Location: Cron Drift - Shuttle bound towards Epsilon Nine
Objective: 3 - Hunt the Hunters, Collect the Data
With: [member="Kaalia Pavanos"] | [member="Enyo Typhos"] | [member="Mythos"] | [member="Anden Fancelo"] | [member="The Amalgam"]

Vaylin mulled over Kaalia's suggestion as they walked. While she hadn't personally seen it with her own eyes, the Valkyrie had heard stories about her fellow Sith. Of a woman-turned-spectre, that flew across battlefields before the enemy could even realize. A very handy ability for their impending mission, provided the enemy didn't have countermeasures on hand. The squad would indeed be playing the part of the distraction, at least initially so the data could be collected.

Then the net would close around the Dabida Yalilyr, hopefully snagging a couple key figures within their organization.

"Hmm, we'll see what the situation calls for when we're there. Knowing the Force Hunters, they've likely got a few tricks up their armoured sleeves."

Upon stepping into Hangar Two, the gathered Sith troopers immediately saluted the two Valkyries.

"At ease. You should have all been briefed on the mission, know who our enemy is today. The Dabida Yalilyr are not the underestimated, they're Mandalorians, deadly whether under one banner or not." Vaylin looked over at the assembled group. Recognizing a couple familiar faces; such as Sergeant Lyja, and taking note of those she didn't know. Particularly towards Anden and Amalgam, her ambers eyes boring into them. "Time is short, so get onboard the shuttle. We'll be departing the moment everyone is on board."

The Valkyrie took the lead, moving over to the shuttle's ramp and stepping on board. She left the soldiers to pick up their gear and don their helmets as they followed suit. And as the final set of boots finally boarded, the ramp was lifted up and the ship departed from the hangar.

Within a minute, Vaylin's wrist console beeped. "What is it?"

"We've decrypted the transmission, it was using some outdated One Sith code." Vaylin asked for it to be relayed, and after a few seconds Mythos message came through. Location. Lat. Six. Nine. Five. Seven. Long. Seven. Nine. Eight. One. G. L. Do. Not. Transmit. Repeat. Do. Not. Transmit.

"I presume it points to a location within Epsilon Nine?" The comms officer chimed in with confirmation, pointing out that it was in fact two separate points. "Where?"

"It's uh..." A pause, as the woman double checked he findings. "Well if the station schematics are to be believed, the first is coming from its Waste Disposal." Vaylin frowned, glancing over at Kaalia wondering if the Sith was having the same train of thought.

Someone had managed to infiltrate the station ahead of them.

"The second is a further along, apparently focused within the central area of the station." A likely place to hold up a defensive position. Whoever the mystery person was, they had just pointed them in the potential direction of the enemy's forces. Or at least a sizable portion of them, hopefully it wasn't in the communication hub.

"Understood. Excellent work, officer."

 

[Enyo Typhos]

Location: Cron Drift - Shuttle bound towards Epsilon Nine
Objective: 3 - Hunt the Hunters, Collect the Data
[member="Kaalia Pavanos"], [member="Vaylin"], [member="Mythos"]


Team Archangel had successfully inserted itself into the station. Wordlessly, the multiracial squad, consisting of two humans, four HRDs and one machine-organic hybrid, made their way down its corridors, each providing mutual cover. Thuella was at the rear, staying close to one of the HRDs. Alexia, being the most agile and stealthiest of the group, had taken point. Enyo was in the centre, where she could coordinate matters.


Mechu-deru and no-shows came in handy when they needed to keep themselves from being detected by security cameras. Doubtless the Mandalorian Force Hunters would not make things easy for them though. Otherwise the adventure would be boring. If the Mandalorians fought particularly well, Archangel would convey its appreciation by trying to capture and process a few. Any Force Hunter who was processed would be able to hunt Force-Users - and all sorts of other people - without having to worry about old age, sickness or emotions.


Win-win?


Anyhow, such activities would have to wait, for a patrol manifested. These were not the Mandalorians' A-game, but they were in the way and could cause trouble. Alexia was the first to sense them. Wordless communication passed between her and Enyo, and she vanished, activating her Mirage cloaking device. This one clearly likes the word Mirage since they named an HRD unit after it.


Crouching in order to remain unseen, Alexia steeled herself. When the lead man approached, she pounced like a predator. Moving in a blur of motion, she manifested before the guards. A blade was in her hand and it soared through the air, embedding itself to the hilt into a guard's pharynx. There was blood and gore. Yet even as she struck, she was in motion again, drawing upon the Force to amplify her speed and reflexes, as time seemed to slow around her. Raising an armoured gauntlet, she struck, striking the other guard under the chin with a short blade that had manifested from her knuckle. The blade struck true and the guard fell to the ground. One hand on his mouth and nose, the other halfway into his cranium, she severed his existence.


A third guard had drawn his blaster to fire and activated his comm, but his movement was arrested when an HRD emerging from behind seized him in a chokehold and broke his neck. Watching such a display of casual violence upon sentient beings, Thuella winced, suppressing a gasp. Enyo, meanwhile, looked dispassionate. "Drag the bodies out of sight. Thuella, search them for a datapad. See if there's a map," she had resorted to using her implants for communication.


"Yes, sister," Thuella responded quickly. Quietly stepping towards the body of a guard, where blood was dripping out of an open wound in his throat, she searched him. Finally she found a datapad. "Just a moment," she said as she sunk into the Force, connecting the device with her mind as she sliced into it. "Got it. This way." Thus the team proceeded. Eventually they came across an imposing, sealed blast door. There was a security console on the wall next to it.


Enyo reached out with her powers, but had trouble getting a clear read on things. She gave a signal and an HRD slipped an optical cable beneath the door. There a good number of mooks inside, along with a turret. A look passed between the Terminatrix and Thuella upon seeing it. More hand gestures, and an HRD began to apply a charge to breach the door. Meanwhile, Alexia and the others prepared smoke and flashbangs.

 

[Keira Cerdulan]

It always was like Mastiff Squadron to run right into the thick of it, hot-headed pirates, smugglers, and various space-borne scum had a nasty habit of being like that. And their new leader was like that more than anything else, "hothead" they had called her, and still did. And that was a more than proper name.

Cerdulan made a sharp and spinning turn to avoid ramming into an asteroid, the pirate who had been trailing her was not so lucky and an explosion of flames and shattered rock followed behind her. The Corellian was laughing through her helmet, an adrenaline rush like this was hard to beat, toss her all the booze and spice in the world and she might have considered doing it over piloting. But when she was in her helmet, in her baby zooming along at breakneck speeds, fixing in whatever shiny new Imp tech they could get their hands on, and having an enemy that could barely keep up? Oh she wouldn't give this up for anything.

But the element rarely lasted, and comm chatter rose up into Keria's ear

"This is Mastiff-3! Taking on a lot of hostiles! Going to need support or Imma' gonna be floating with the rocks!"

Her face going serious, Keira quickly gunned the engines of her interceptor even further past the usual breakneck speeds she had come to favor so much: no one was going to die her today, not on her first day as the proper boss. And they weren't going to die anyway without her permission!

"Mastiff-1, coming in to support! Keep them busy!"

She had unintentionally shouted much louder than she intended, her voice strained as she desperately tried to weave her way between the asteroids. Narrowly missing one after being forced to make a rapid pull down before weaving right back up, and soon before her eyes laid what she was looking for: Mastiff-3, trailing some damage being hounded on by 4 of the pirate fighters: poor sod, but she had to give him credit for flying well enough to not be blown into slag.

Clenching her teeth she gunned it to full speed, and burst out into the clearing the little hunt had decided to go in on: pulling up far above the wild chase, she yanked on her controls and sent herself shooting downward with laser cannons firing rapidly, another quick yank sending her into a spiraling turn, flinging out green blasts of laser fire across the enemies, with fiery explosions the pirate forces were rendered into space slag, Keira zooming right on through it all, pieces of scrap scraping against the hulls of her interceptor, but didn't care yet: she was far too high on how well that fancy maneuver had just turned out.

"Haha! You owe me a drink for that one!"

Keira spoke like an overly excited child before circling right back up alongside the wounded vessel of Mastiff-3. Taking another callback to command:

"Mastiff-1 right back Command! We got these forces following right behind us, not too sure how much longer we can keep their attention on us!"

The Corellian had just shown a remarkable amount of reservation, for once, usually she'd have shouted out what she wanted: to launch the main forces. But it was a nice heads-up instead, hm. Maybe this is what those old folk leading all that junk meant.

[member="Fiolette Yvarro"]

 

[The Amalgam]

Objective: 3

Post: 2

The Amalgam studied the two...Valkyries, was it? She wasn't too clear on what that meant. The Amalgam's own quest for power meant secrecy...and that had led her to being very slow and cautious when flexing and spreading her muscles...you never knew whether the other wolves had you in their sights or not until they did.

She looked down and examined her stealth carbine. Personally for her, it was a toss up between the Nightstinger Sporting Blaster and the Carbine...on the one hand the Nightstinger fired stronger bolts in her experience, and could be silenced and its bolts made invisible as much as the DC. She had often used both in her killings. But if she had to pick one or the other, she would just barely choose the carbine, for the sole reason she got double the shots.

She had checked her guns twice, and the saber three times...she was obsessive that way...and without a word listened to what [member="Vaylin"] was saying. It wasn't her first rodeo. She'd cut her teeth on places like the one they were heading towards. Hell, she'd escaped one not too long back.

She would not offer comment unless asked. She'd survived the Underworks by learning to be exceptionally quiet, listen to the others talk, and then bide her time. She'd studied the briefing. She was not scared of Mandalorians. They were formidable, but they had limits. One just had to know what those limits were.

Plus, her Force abilities hid her from most sensors, so that was a little bit of a bonus. She headed to the shuttle, being the last to get aboard before it lifted off, cloaking her presence in the Force, listening to them talk about the burst transmission from @Mythos. Her keen ears heard the answers given. Waste Disposal. She'd have bet every last credit she owned to say he'd been in Waste Disposal for a while, whoever it was. Its what she would have done.

Hell, she'd had to do it in the Underworks to run from thugs she had stolen from. She remembered the smell of every rotted, half eaten sandwich she had buried herself under to hide from clubs and knives and grasping, greedy hands...

More than once she suspected it was times she had been forced to do that in the works was what had really pushed her over the edge.

She sat quietly in her seat, allowing others to offer suggestions before offering her own. She wanted to suggest scouting central command ahead, and then sabotaging whatever major defenses they had tried to set up. But that wasn't necessarily the best one.

The Amalgam always went for the throat on these sorts of places. Take out main power and kill life support. Worked everytime, and you could smile as your personal score went up.

Death, especially of the weak, made the Dark Side stronger. And really, that was the important thing in this.

[member="Kaalia Pavanos"] [member="Anden Fancelo"]

 

[Anden Fancelo]

Anden Fancelo​

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Cron Drift, Crimson Valkyrie's hangar two, Shuttle​

Objective: (III) Collect data. Eliminate HVTs.​

Working With: [member="Vaylin"] | [member="Kaalia Pavanos"] | [member="The Amalgam"] | [member="Enyo Typhos"] | [member="Mythos"]​

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As the troopers and the gravewalker were given the command to be at ease, they began preparing themselves. Putting on their helmets and adjusting their gear's straps and what not. Fancelo, he just put on his helmet and sealed it. Already making way to the shuttle behind the two valkyries. The squad sat down on the passenger seats, getting comfortable for the short ride. Anden turned about, perhaps standing beside the two sith that were standing with him or just sitting down, it didn't matter. He held his hand against one of the handle bars on the roof and looked over, seeing the Amalgam's person. As she was the last one to step into the shuttle.

The first word to come to his mind as he saw her step right in was. "Strange." But, the sergeant tapped his arm and caught Anden's attention.

"You alright sir?"

He blinked under his helmet and glanced to where he last saw the Amalgam, who was nowhere to be found for now. But he nodded to the sergeant. "I'm fine."

After hearing the communications being made between Vaylin and the comms officer. He turned about once more, facing the two sith. He'd bow his head lightly. "My ladies." He greeted quietly. He wasn't sure if that was the right way to do it but, better than nothing. "What'll be the plan here?"

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

"Is she?" A curious glance to the side, before returning her attention to the viewport. "In my experience she is as stingy as one gets."

Of course, the Dark Lord had not been literal about it, but that was the other disadvantage of her experiments.

Whenever she increased her intelligence to this level? Everything became literal and creative output became... harder to some degree. That was fine for some things (it was wholly possible to adapt), but casual language was not something that Cerbera really cared about. If it had been up to her, everyone would be interacting through either numbers or pheromones. Either one of those was more accurate than the garbling exhibited by the sentient life inhabiting the Galaxy.

Her hand rose up, touching the area of her heart softly for a moment.

"I am happy to hear that the people I have.... assisted remain thankful for my help." Of course, her help always came with some... negative points. But that was usually advertised on the tin can. It was a thing that people couldn't really complain about.

When they made a deal with a devil.

"Indeed I do. Of course, the Empire would not be expected to stop their mining operations. That would be silly. But I am eager to use it as it was in the past, darling. My creations need a home. I'd, of course, ensure that your mining would not be hindered."

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Indeed? A sanctuary for monsters."

If properly cultivated, Corbos could become the new epicenter for the Empire's various beasties and creatures of all shapes and sizes. There was some risk to be had in the venture, but if Cerbera's words were true and genuine, then she would take care of those issues.

"An interesting proposal, my dear. I assume that you already have plans in preparation? I am willing to grant you stewardship of Corbos, but not before I understand your intentions fully. I do not like leaving much to chance or variables." If there was one thing that personified the Emperor, it was his fierce desire to control everything he could. It disturbed him to leave events up to fate, which is partly the reason why he had gone to such great lengths to bring the Voss Mystics and any other freelance or independent oracle under his direct control.

For if one controlled fate itself, then what truly made him different from a god?

"Tell me more, darling."

[member="Cerbera"]​

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Location: Cron Drift, aboard the Crimson Valkyrie
Objective: [III] Hunt the Hunters, Collect the Data
In vicinity(ish): [member="Vaylin"] | [member="Enyo Typhos"] | [member="Anden Fancelo"] | [member="The Amalgam"] | [member="Mythos"]

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"Let's go."

There was little else for Avacyn to add to what Vaylin had to say. Even though all the possible preparations had been made, there was much that would remain an unknown until the moment they stepped foot into the space station. She then walked up to and onto the shuttle's ramp alongide the zabrak, after which the soldiers followed them on board. Without any unnecessary holdup they lifted off, trading the hangar's view with that of the blackness of outer space.

While the collective were en route to Epsilon 9, the comms officer came back to Vaylin to give an update on the message that had been sent to them. Avacyn listened along with interest and when the fellow Valkyrie looked over to her after the first location had been relayed to them, the look and nod that came from the woman sent the clear message that she was, in fact, on the same wavelength. The second location also came through and after the voice on the other side was silenced she took a moment to assess why the waste disposal was so important to point out in an encrypted message. "Perhaps the first location points out where the sender is, or was at the time of receiving the message. Perhaps we need to send some people there to check it out." Even if the person was already somewhere else, perhaps there were still clues to be found that could be of help to the operation as a whole.

"We still have to be careful, though. We still don't know who the source of the message is. I don't think it'll hurt to have both areas covered, though." Where which soldier would go was up to Vaylin in the end, but there was no reason to let that fact deter Avacyn from giving her own input on the situation. She would bring up the schematics of the facility on a datapad she had brought along, then pointed out the central area. "It looks like there are two routes to get to where the schematics and data are likely to be stored, but only one is very apparent. That goes through the central area," she said as she traced the route with her finger. She then returned it to where they would be entering the station and took a different path. "This path however makes use of a number of maintenance shafts that are intentionally hard to find. While the defenses focus on the obvious route, I can take the other one to the data room, get what we need, then use that position to flank their defenses."

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

Cron Drift​

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Objective II​

HIMS Elidibus​

[member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="Keira Cerdulan"]​

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFqnWfagJkw[/media]

Revision.

The moment before you emerge from hyperspace, when your heart drops and you lose your breath - when the battle plans become reality. No more would they just be the grainy holographic blue on the screen. Rather it would come alive. Fiolette anticipated the moment greatly as she braced for revision. Hands along the rail of the command center, blue eyes fixed to the enlarged viewport as the hue of hyperspace vanished and before her sat the truths of battle. Klaxons sounded, all hands - battle stations, red alert. Captain Sentongo shouted her orders as group after group of starship emerged from the veil. And suddenly the once alone Mastiff Squadron was alone no more. Squadrons now poured forth from the Elidibus and her fleet, superority groups moved forward escorted by attack groups. "I trust that Commander Pavanos has your CAG well in hand, Captain?"

"She does." Captain Sentongo said without turning, as the lead squadron from the Elidibus departed.

Hands moved away from the rail and at her back, Rear Admiral Yvarro watched with interest as the battle unfolded.

"Do we have contact with Mastiff-1?"

"Patching them in now," a communications officer from one of the pits relayed the data. Audio only, but it would do for now.

The Rear Admiral made herself known, "this is Rear Admiral Yvarro of Battlegroup Elidibus, our forces will push forward with you." It was a short but enough to get the point across, as Commander Pavanos's voice broke through just afterward.

:: This is Ghoul-1, to Mastiff-1. We've got your six, Ghoul-1 out ::

The familiar screams of TIE fighters, interceptors and defenders could be heard as the bombers prepared to depart. By now the drill was the same, by now the Sith-Imperial forces had developed several tactics and continued to develop new tactics for handling pirates and the like. Commander Pavanos had plenty of service history all of it colorful, from the One Sith to the First Order, Fiolette threw the commander rank at her and told Pavanos she had the one shot to prove herself. Fiolette recalled Commander Pavanos from the Battle of Castameer, or Omega and then again after the Battle of Anoat and Hoth.

 

[Mythos]

Location: Epsilon9, Waste Disposal Unit
Objective III: Hunt the hunters/Collect the data. Escape.
With: @Vaylin @Kaalia Pavanos [member="Anden Fancelo"] [member="The Amalgam"] [member="Enyo Typhos"]

The easy part was over, once left in the darkness of the disposal unit with the suit capable of giving him the ability to survive in the vacuum of space Mythos prepared his blade and nuzzled inside his suit. Other than the main gate there was only one way out of the waste disposal was the burning maw on the other side. Every few hours the unit would launch a massive wave of flame that destroyed half of the waste and chucked it out to space in the form of ash. Mythos would have to time his movements, place himself far enough away from the fireball that came his way but not far enough to leave him wanting for his leap and clamp him between the durasteel maw. Using the shadow of the light in the asteroid Mythos calculated the time for the gate to open, it was a rough estimate but he hoped he was correct. In this world of filth and putrid existence time lost meaning.

He prepared by placing himself next to the charred garbage line deep in the disposal unit, the further back he went the more intense the burning was. He would have top be perfect in his leap if he was going to survive. His timing was correct and the fireball ignited from the back to the front devouring everything in it's way. Instead of running away from the flame Mythos ran towards it, knowing that now as the flame opened so too did the jaws of the disposal unit and the access to the outside.

Using the blade of Valkyri steel Mythos parted the flames as he ran, slowly the flames running away from him as the ashes and garbage were all suctioned to the outside. With all his strength Mythos ran as fast as he could and jumped into the massive durasteel jaws hoping that the vacuum of space pulled him out before the jaws clamped down. It was bittersweet. Half way through his jump the pull of the outside of space yanked on him hard just as the jaws slammed behind him but it launched him to the outside of the asteroid at a frightening speed.

Skill took over, Mythos angled his body so the impact in this low gravity world did not break his suit and used the sword he carried with him to attempted to slow down his momentum. After a few smacks on the ground he stuck his sword in the ground and used it as leverage to halt his tumbling momentum. Battered, tired and still not done Mythos began to sprint back to where he came from. His oxygen was running low and he was far, he needed to make it back in time to sneak into the facility or perhaps being picked up by his allies.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

Location: Cron Drift - Shuttle bound towards Epsilon Nine
Objective: 3 - Hunt the Hunters, Collect the Data
[member="Kaalia Pavanos"], [member="Vaylin"], [member="Mythos"]


This was Thuella's first fight. For a hardened soldier, Knight or Master of the Force this would probably be a day like any other. Board a space station filled with hostiles, kill said hostiles, secure sensitive information, leave. Been there, done that. However, she was none of the three. She was no fighter. Her place had been in a laboratory. But Big Sister insisted that all members of her family know how to defend themselves. A real Typhos got bloodied - and she wanted to make her proud. Still, she had not expected a fight to be this...chaotic.


The blast door blew open as the charges exploded. A Mandalorian was knocked down by the impact at the passage of the shockwave. Mayhem ensued. Mandalorian guards rallied, meeting the attackers with blasters, vibroblades and beskar swords. The whine of blasters filled the air, accompanied by the staccato of slugthrower shots.


Thuella sought cover behind a crate. Someone - maybe an HRD or a Mandalorian - lobbed a grenade into the fray. Boom. The explosion seemed thunderous to her. Her ears were ringing. Forcing herself to focus, she concentrated on the turret, which was putting her team under fire. She beheld it putting Enyo under fire, wincing as her older sister was hammered with blaster bolts while wading through the flames as a Mandalorian unleashed his flamethrower on her.


She knew Enyo was ridiculously tanky...but still. The Force surged through her as she applied her power to the turret, forcing it to bend to her will. Beads of sweat dripped down her face and back as she pushed. There was strain on her face, but then finally she succeeded. The turret rotated, and began to pummel the Mandalorians. She felt a surge of exaltation as they were suddenly attacked. She saw Enyo march through the flames.


A Mandalorian warrior came forward to meet her, swinging a massive mace that slammed into her chest. There was a loud crunch when it impacted. Human bones would have broken. Pushed back, Enyo was undaunted. Removing her left hand from her weapon, she responded with a telekinetic blast towards his knee. Taking advantage of this, she brought down her hammer, breaking his arm. Then she shattered his skull, crushing it like foil. More enemies came. Her armour was scorched and Thuella sensed damage from her systems, but the Cyborg fought on. One powerful punch sent a Mandalorian flying.


Elsewhere, the HRDs were engaging the Mandalorians, having drawn their crossguard lightsabres. They moved with surgical precision, never tiring, never showing mercy. Alexia was, meanwhile, taking advantage of her speed and agility, using her cloaking device to appear in the midst of their enemies and strike.


However, Thuella would not be allowed to be a passive observer. Premonition screamed inside her mind. Just in time for her to realise that a Mandalorian was charging her. With a shout he swung his long bladed sword at her. With effort she parried the blade downward, but was lucky to hold on to her lightsabre in the process. Breathing heavily, she raised her hand and blasted him with a surge of Lightning. Then with a powerful stroke, she cut his arm at the elbow.


Trembling, she saw his arm hit the ground, leaving only a stump. She took a breath, but another Mandalorian was upon her. She had some forewarning when the maimed Mandalorian got out of the way and suddenly a blazing flame shot towards her. Reacting quickly, she rolled aside, but the flames singed her. The Mandalorian, clad in scarlet armour, rushed at her from the side. As she faced him, she realised that she had lost her lightsabre. She leapt to the side, avoiding a blow for her head, but crashed to the ground.


Looking around, she saw her weapon lying on the floor. As the Mandalorian turned and unleashed another blow, she rolled away and willed the lightsabre back into her hand. Sweating and afraid, she nonetheless arose to her feet and met her opponent. Going on the offensive, she slashed but the Mandalorian parried her attack with ease. Seizing the initiative, the Mandalorian used his body as a battering ram, knocking her back hard. He followed through with a strike towards her chest. Grunting in pain, she managed to hurl a blast of lightning towards him.


The electrical blast caused a cry of pain to emanate. Moreover, it compromised his HUD. Cursing in his native tongue, the Mandalorian removed his helmet, revealing a scarred face. He tossed the helmet aside, and as she moved to cut him, he kicked her in the shin, sending he down. In pain, she saw him raise his blade. Resolve took over and she raised her left hand a bit, activating a mechanism in her wrist. A paralysing beam shot towards him, catching the Mandalorian in his lower abdomen ere he could strike. Paralyse the hips and lower body and your legs would not work. The beam struck and as he tumbled, she sent her lightsabre soaring towards his neck.


She breathed in heavily, as she staggered to her feet. Wobbling on her injured leg, she stared down at the dead Mandalorian. She'd just killed someone! She had no time to contemplate this, for a hail of blaster bolts suddenly shot towards her. Before any could reach her, Enyo suddenly appeared in front of her, blocking the path of the hail. First she crushed the gun, then she lifted the Mandalorian and broke his neck.


When she turned towards her sister, Thuella saw that Enyo's face was a mess of synthetic flesh, circuits and metal. "There are no do-overs in a fight. Always pay attention to your environment," Enyo said sternly, emotionlessly, and all Thuella could do was nod meekly, out of breath.

"We have a prisoner, ma'am," one of the HRDs declared in a dull monotone.

 

[Vaylin]

Location: Cron Drift - Epsilon Nine
Objective: 3 - Hunt the Hunters, Collect the Data
With: [member="Kaalia Pavanos"] | [member="Enyo Typhos"] | [member="Mythos"] | [member="Anden Fancelo"] | [member="The Amalgam"]

The Zabrak nodded, thinking over the suggestions Kaalia had put forwards. Their target and goal were straightforward; collect the data and eliminate the enemy. But they couldn't afford to ignore the mystery person. Could be a chance they were an ally, but equally an enemy too.

What if the Hunters were trying to trick them into a trap?

Risks had to be taken, and Vaylin wasn't shy about it.

"The signal originated from Epsilon Nine's Waste Disposal, which is located at the exterior on the other side of the station. If they're intending to move from their position, they'll likely be finding a way onto the station proper. Amal-" The Zabrak paused, looking around only to find the woman had seemingly disappeared; both physically and in the Force. Assuming she was still there, Vaylin continued. "Amalgam, you will split off and find out mystery infiltrator. Determine whether they're friend or foe, if their the former then you both return and help us with the assault." She said nothing about the latter option, as that was an obvious answer in itself.

Vaylin's gaze shifted to the soldiers all looking at her. In a brief moment of reflection she thought back on how she started, and to where she was now. From a young girl turned wild from surviving in a jungle, to a Sith giving out orders to her soldiers.

"Darth Avacyn will also be splitting away from the main force, using the secondary route to reach the data more quietly. And unless she requires any backup, she'll be flying solo. For the rest of you..." Vaylin's attention fell on Anden and Sergeant Lyja. "Will be following me. We'll be hitting them quick and hard, hopefully catching them while they're still preparing." Completely unaware the Mandos were already dealing with a different enemy. "We'll remain as a single unit until we get further into the station, from there we will fan out and flank the Hunters before they can even amuse the thought of a retreat. Is that understood?"

After a chorus of confirmations, Vaylin moved to the cockpit and checked with the pilot. They would be landing in the abandoned hangar in minutes, leaving only one last thing for the Valkyrie to do. She opened a comm channel with her ship.

"Crimson Valkyrie. Commence immediate jamming of all non Sith-Imperial transmissions in and around the immediate vicinity of Epsilon Nine."

The net was sprung.

 

[Kuzo]

Irajah had been pleasantly surprised at how everything had fallen into place. The delivery of Vain to her had not gone as she had intended. The agent she had sent had been delayed and the window of opportunity snapped shut. And yet it had been from an entirely different direction and cultivated ally that she had gained what she wanted. Who would have guessed when she had first entered into business with [member="Kalak the Raykkan"] that he would prove to be such an incredible boon to her plans? She had not expected to cross purpose that particular alliance, but it had born a particularly sweet fruit. It was amazing what fairness, honesty, and politeness yielded when grown in fertile soil.

And equally amazing what grew in soil watered with violence and pain.

Dressed in the heavy robes and plague doctor mask of Dr. Vain Jar'He, and armed with a thorough reaping of the clone's memories, Irajah Ven stood on the observation deck of a ship in orbit. She was there simply for that- to observe. To see, first hand, how the Empire settled its business in this particular arena. She was, by virtue of the clone's reputation, largely left alone.

It was perfect really. It would have been so much more difficult to take the place of someone popular or beloved.

Instead Vain had been the perfect misanthrope.

Irajah appreciated the irony.

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Bastion. It seemed so far away; nothing but a glimmer in the ever present darkness of the void between the stars. Kole wasn't able to see it from where he was standing, but trust in the fact that if he could it's where those synthetic, blue eyes of his were no doubt resting. There hadn't been a day spent off of the Sith Capital ever since his arrival. Until now, that is. His existence had been mundane and repetitive, but Kole could always find solace in the fact there was someone there for when he returned home. Now, in the weeks that had gone by, a certain anxious concern began settling in.

His mind wandered elsewhere, and he paid for that mistake. There was a burning sensation that violently struck at his hand, forcing him to instinctively recoil as it had been rapidly brought out of the panel it previously found itself in. There were sparks that briefly illuminated that interior, and the zapping sound confirmed such a thing. Kole hissed in an attempt to numb the pain, eyes diverting to the fingers that suffered. It wasn't anything permanent.

"C'mon." There was an impatient figure behind him, something easily discernible by their tone alone. They held some form of rifle in their hands with eyes that shifted back and forth constantly. They weren't in friendly territory, is all. Those Mandalorians were supposed to be here, but this duo made their way through several sealed doors without interacting with a single soul. Kole assumed it was an abandoned complex, or something along the lines of. Nevertheless, they had their orders.

Kole, with an irritated expression, forced his hand back inside. He struggled to see in the dimly lit interior, but after a few short moments had that door ahead of them opened with a hiss. He didn't know how much longer this was going to take.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Objective II
The Elidibus

[member="Fiolette Yvarro"] [member="Keira Cerdulan"]

Taeli had settled herself into the command chair at the center of the bridge, and from that point, she didn't really say anything. Fiolette was the naval officer and a very competent one at that. Taeli had led fleet engagements before herself, but she would always defer to someone with more experience in the matter. No, she was perfectly content to not interfere directly with any orders she might give. Instead, Taeli began reaching out with the Force, sending her presence far and wide, touching the minds and emotions of the Sith-Imperial forces... and those of their enemies.

She began pressing her will against the enemy, pushing their fears and worries to the fore of their minds or slowing their reactions ever so slightly. She was trying to be subtle with her manipulations. She didn't want the enemy to realize a Sith was influencing them yet. She was... considering it a test for... a project she had been working on for years. She would make them paranoid, fearful, confused. She would become... the dark side's cruel instrument in their destruction, leading them like nerfs to the slaughter at the hands of the Sith Empire.

 

[Tabigarashu Madara]

Hirou was in system as a touch point for the Saaraishash operations here. But really? There wasn't much for the Nezumi to do. The operatives were doing their jobs, and Hirou had promised [member="Darth Saarai"] that they would sit this one out from a front lines position. There wasn't the need to have them go in this time, and honestly?

Hirou was getting older.

Oh, they weren't OLD yet. But they weren't quite the spry young mouse they had been. Nezumi life spans were considerably shorter than most other sentient beings, and Hirou had already spent more than half of their life now in service to the Empire. Pushing six years old, Hirou was starting to feel it.

The Saaraishash ship they were using as a mobile base (just in case they WERE needed somewhere) was small by Imperial standards, but still very large to the Nezumi. Large enough that Hirou hadn't actually met everyone on board- that sort of ship. Honestly, it was their favorite kind because it meant at any moment they had a chance of meeting someone new and wasn't THAT the best thing?

Of course, at the moment, that was fair from their mind.

At the moment, Hirou was looking up at a bookshelf. They let out a small sigh. This wasn't one of the ships they usually traveled in, which meant it wasn't outfitted with them in mind (Tai Fa was rather fastidious about that). It meant that the only way to reach the book they wanted on the top shelf was to scamper up and get it- but the walls were smooth and the distances between shelves was... honestly a lot. Two years ago, Hirou wouldn't have hesitated. But now there was some small caution where there had not been before. Not caution in moments of need and danger- there was no time for that there. But here.... was it worth the risk just to get the book down? The cost benefit analyse shuffled behind the small black eyes of the Nezumi as they looked up at the top shelf.

[member="Cle-Var-Ri"]